The system is will be launched in 2020, although some of its elements are already operational and can be used for experiments. This photo gallery was prepared in cooperation with the National Research Nuclear University to offer a glimpse of how NICA could benefit the global research community.
NICA is a center that facilitates the study of the properties of matter that shape our universe.
Above: Layout of NICA elements.
Above: Layout of NICA elements.
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
A multi-purpose detector (MPD) is being created in Dubna as part of the project. It will be located at the exact location where NICA beams will collide.
Above: Model of a Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD).
Above: Model of a Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD).
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
The multi-purpose detector (MPD) is a unique system that can be compared with accelerators like the CERN Large Hadron Collider. It is designed to reveal the secrets of extreme density and temperature, hadron physics, nuclear physics, biophysics, and astrophysics.
Above: Model of the Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD).
Above: Model of the Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD).
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
Some NICA sections have been completed and launched. The Baryonic Matter at Nuclotron (BM@N) detector was launched in early 2018 and is being used in research on interactions within atomic neutrons.
Above: SP-57 horizontal focusing magnet and bm@n ion guide.
Above: SP-57 horizontal focusing magnet and bm@n ion guide.
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
The NICA project brings together more than 300 researchers from 70 research institutions in 32 countries. This number is expected to increase several-fold as new elements of the accelerator complex are completed.
Above: Assembly and test facility for superconducting magnets
Above: Assembly and test facility for superconducting magnets
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
State-of-the-art accelerators are expected to enable researchers to model processes that unfolded in the Universe at various stages of its existence.
Above: Preparations for running electric tests on a magnet.
Above: Preparations for running electric tests on a magnet.
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
Once launched, NICA will help researchers understand how protons and neutrons came into being during the Big Bang, as well as learn more about how materials respond to high energy environments.
Above: Cooler of Nuclotron-type superconducting magnet.
Above: Cooler of Nuclotron-type superconducting magnet.
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
Researchers will be able to recreate quark-gluon plasma in vitro, which is the state of matter that existed immediately after the Big Bang.
Above: Nuclotron - type quadrupole magnet
Above: Nuclotron - type quadrupole magnet
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
This discovery could lead humanity to discover a new type of energy that could compete with nuclear energy.
Photo: ToF-700 Time of Flight System (L) and one of the drift chambers from BM@N (R)
Photo: ToF-700 Time of Flight System (L) and one of the drift chambers from BM@N (R)
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© Sputnik / Sergey Pyatakov
The collider will be installed here once the walls are polished.
