Yesterday, at the 43rd meeting of the Russia-CERN Committee, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti proposed to organize a workshop to discuss the CERN contribution to the development of mega-science projects in Russia, as well as JINR and Russia’s participation in the creation of future colliders of the European Organization for Nuclear Research. JINR Director Academician Grigory Trubnikov co-chaired the event on behalf of Russia.

The working part of the meeting was preceded by the signing of the Protocol on Maintenance and Operation of Detectors of the Large Hadron Collider. Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Valery Falkov and Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Fabiola Gianotti signed the document. According to the Protocol, the Russian Federation will annually contribute its share of funds to the LHC collaboration for maintenance and operation of the detectors of the Large Hadron Collider. The document contributes to the ongoing active cooperation of Russian scientists and CERN and creates conditions for the development of innovation activities and training of highly qualified staff in the interests of international scientific cooperation and breakthrough development of Russia.

The Protocol is a part of the Agreement between the Russian Government and the European Organization for Nuclear Research on the scientific and technical cooperation in the fields of high-energy physics and other realms of mutual interest, as well as the Protocol thereto dated 16 April 2019.

Reports on the implementation of mega-science projects of the Russian Federation at the meeting of the Committee as well as experiments at CERN with the participation of Russian researchers were made. JINR Vice-Director Vladimir Kekelidze reported on the status of the construction of the NICA collider and the large intellectual contribution of CERN to this project. In particular, he noted that a group of scientists from CERN is finalizing the development of the ALTAI chip for the MPD detector at the NICA collider. Beam tests of prototypes will be available at CERN and JINR by the end of 2021.

“The NICA project launched technology exchange, as well as intellectual participation of CERN in Russian scientific projects. The network of mega-science facilities in our country is rapidly developing: in 3-4 years, there will be several more large-scale research infrastructures. Detector and accelerator technologies developed at Kurchatov Institute, the Institute of Nuclear Physics, JINR, and other centres are a good basis for the development of facilities in Europe and at CERN. We actively exchange experience and knowledge so that to give impetus to the development of our common world science,” Grigory Trubnikov highlighted.

Fabiola Gianotti in her turn suggested organizing a working meeting of experts in order to understand what constructive contribution CERN could make to mega-science projects of the Russian Federation, as well as to discuss the possible contribution of JINR and Kurchatov Institute, INP SB RAS, and other Russian centres to the development of common future colliders at CERN. “Such a meeting will give an opportunity to consider our cooperation in detail,” she commented.

“I am happy to support your proposal. I am sure that the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research together with Kurchatov Institute may organize such a meeting. And not only with CERN but with its partners as well. It is possible to hold the meeting at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next year. We may consider Russky Island (Vladivostok) or Lake Baikal (Irkutsk) as the venue. We will soon make particular proposals on the dates and venue of the meeting,” the JINR Director said.

One of the other milestones of the event is the decision to intensify Russia’s participation in the CERN experiments conducted not at the LHC but at the extracted beams and in the same format of contributions to collaborations as at the LHC experiments.