Representatives of the Italian company ASG Superconductors headed by Chief Executive Officer of this company Vincenzo Giori visited the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Science Attaché of the Italian Embassy in RF Professor Pietro Fré introduced the guests to JINR Director V.A. Matveev.

The NICA megaproject is now in the purview of the company that develops and manufactures superconducting magnets. "This is a very high-tech company – said Vladimir Kekelidze, Director of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics. – They produced the magnet for the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. So when we thought, with whom to negotiate for production of such a large magnet for MPD which is one of the two largest facilities of the NICA complex the choice has fallen on this company."

The ASG company will be able to produce the element of the facility necessary for Nuclear Research element of the facility. And even to take part in joint projects. "We came to JINR for the first time. A very interesting project is being implemented here. And we are interested in cooperation," said Vincenzo Giori, Chief Executive Officer of the ASG company.

In the Laboratory of High Energy Physics, scientists will try to simulate the first moments of the Universe which came into existence billions of years ago. The Collider should be the best setup for experiments in heavy ion physics. The parameters for this facility – which are high energy, enormous density of matter and diversity of types of studied particles – provide opportunities for fundamental research as well as for a number of applied tasks: from carbon therapy, testing electronics for space programs to new approaches to energy generation. By 2017, physicists around the world expect the complex to start operation.

Protons will collide in the collider rings. And it is still a very difficult task to develop the MPD detector. It must effectively identify products of nuclei collisions and  measure their parameters for the study of strongly interacting matter. The magnet of this facility is designed to create homogeneous magnetic field in its aperture. The construction of the magnet and its performance capabilities are chosen to provide high accuracy tracking.

As for equipment for the NICA collider complex, it will be produced in Russia and abroad. Thus, an alliance of several companies that will produce vacuum chambers and elements of superconducting magnets was formed in the Urals. Poland is responsible for cryostats and vacuum chambers, Slovakia – for the power system. The Chinese Institute of Plasma Physics is ready to manufacture HTS based superconducting cables. And the Italian manufacturers of superconducting magnets will discuss prospects of cooperation with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in their homeland, to return after that to Dubna with the exact intention to participate in the NICA project.