On 20-24 May, Kazakh-British Technical University (Kazakhstan, Almaty) is hosting the 7th Collaboration Meeting of the Spin Physics Detector (SPD) Experiment at the NICA Accelerator Complex. The participants will present the results of work on the project to create the experimental facility.

Co-leader of the collaboration, Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems at JINR Alexey Guskov opened the meeting. He thanked Kazakh-British Technical University (KBTU) and the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP) of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for their help in organizing the event.

“This is our first collaboration meeting outside of Russia. Today marks an important milestone for the development of the SPD Project. We are soon moving on to the preparatory stage, the construction of the first structural components of the facility,” Alexey Guskov said.

KBTU Rector Maratbek Gabdullin and Deputy Director General for Science at the INP of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurzhan Saduev gave an opening speech.

“The joint effort of the global community in advancing physics is evident in the SPD Experiment at the NICA Accelerator Complex. It is a great honour for KBTU to host an event of this scale. The discoveries made during the experiment might completely change our perspective on the evolution of the universe. Through passion and commitment to a shared goal, we will overcome any obstacles and challenges on our common scientific path,” KBTU Rector said, highlighting the importance of the meeting.

Co-leader of the collaboration, Deputy Head of High Energy Physics Division at Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre Victor Kim reported on the status and development of the SPD Project. The research and development programme currently involves optimising the physical signals of detectors, their design, preparation for production, and subsequent testing of prototypes of subdetectors. 14 research centres from Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, and Russia have already signed memoranda of understanding. Memoranda with three other organizations are under signing. The SPD Collaboration continues to expand, currently uniting more than 400 representatives from 15 countries. Negotiations are underway with scientific centres of Chile, Mexico, Serbia, and Russia on their participation in the work of the collaboration and the signing of memoranda. In addition, Viktor Kim noted that in April 2024, a special programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation to support the NICA Megascience Project was announced. As a result of the report, the speaker presented a preliminary work plan for the SPD Project.

The report of Deputy Chairperson of the Council of the SPD Collaboration Armen Tumasyan (Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory) also drew attention to the growing number of organizations ready to take part in the project. The inclusion in the programme of the Seven-Year Plan for the Development of JINR in 2024-2030, the JINR Postdoctoral Programme, and open research grants continue to contribute the active advancement of the collaboration. Armen Tumasyan noted that, according to the recommendations of the 58th Meeting of the PAC for Particle Physics, a new membership of the Detector Advisory Committee (DAC SPD) was approved in December 2023. At the next session of the PAC for Particle Physics, the committee will present the result of an independent international examination of the Technical Design Report of the SPD Experiment (SPD TDR). At the end of the speech, Chairperson of the SPD Collaboration Council, Professor Egle Tomasi-Gustafsson (CEA Saclay, France) expressed gratitude to the participants for the fruitful work on the experiment.

In the second part of the programme, the coordinators discussed the technical and physical components of the experiment and the development of software and IT infrastructure. Head of the Scientific and Experimental Department of Spin Structure of Hadrons and Rare Processes at VBLHEP at JINR Alexander Korzenev delivered a report on progress in the development and creation of subsystems of the SPD Project. Head of the DLNP JINR Proton−Proton Interactions Sector of the Experimental Department of Colliding Beams Igor Denisenko made a presentation on the status of the project, plans, and results obtained by the participants of the collaboration in modelling the physical processes of the SPD Experiment. JINR Deputy Chief Scientific Secretary, DLNP JINR Deputy Head of the Experimental Department of Colliding Beams Alexey Zhemchugov spoke about the preliminary results and plans for the creation of computing infrastructure and software of the experiment.

VBLHEP JINR Deputy Head of the Accelerator Department for Scientific Work Valery Lebedev presented an overview report on plans to create an infrastructure for working with polarised proton and deuteron beams at the NICA Collider. VBLHEP JINR Senior Engineer of the Experimental and Methodological Research Sector on the Extracted Beams Dmitry Korovkin made a report on the prospects and current state of the test zone of the SPD Experiment. Leading Researcher at the Department of Experimental Physics at Kurchatov Institute Vasily Mochalov spoke about the possibilities for testing subsystems of the SPD Detector on the U-70 Proton Synchrotron (Institute of High Energy Physics, Protvino).

During the five working days, the participants will discuss in detail the status of work on the main subsystems, electronics, and software of the facility. Special attention will be paid to considering the SPD physics programme. This year, over 100 people are taking part in the 7th Collaboration Meeting of the SPD Experiment. More than 60 of them came to Almaty. The programme of the event includes over 50 presentations on the topics of the meeting.