Russian Collider: Preparing for the 'Big Bang' in Dubna

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.

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NICA is a center that facilitates the study of the properties of matter that shape our universe.

Above: Layout of NICA elements.

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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).

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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).

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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)

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The collider will be installed here once the walls are polished.