About EMMI

The ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI at GSI was founded in April 2008 in the framework of the Helmholtz Alliance 'Cosmic Matter in the Laboratory' and is funded through the Alliance Program of the Helmholtz Association.

Together with its 13 partner institutions it aims at fostering forefront research on matter under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure or density. In total, more than 350 scientists (including students) at the partner institutions perform research on the subjects of the Alliance. In addition to the partner institutions, the Alliance benefits from the expertise of internationally renowned scientists who are closely linked to it as Associated Partners.

The four main research areas of EMMI are

• properties of the quark-gluon plasma and the phase structure of strongly interacting matter
• structure and dynamics of neutron matter
• electromagnetic plasmas of high energy density
• ultra-cold quantum gases and extreme states in atomic physics,

The partner institutions have committed themselves to creating 18 senior positions in the framework of the Alliance, including four EMMI Fellow Groups which are established at GSI, one for each of the four main research fields of EMMI, as well as several full professorships.

The central steering body of EMMI and of the Alliance is the Scientific Council, consisting of the EMMI Director, of one representative from each partner institution, and of two representatives of the Associated Partners. A Program Advisory Committee (PAC) of eight external experts - two from each of the four main research areas of EMMI - advises EMMI and the SC concerning the scientific program.

A central activity of EMMI is to support, to organize and to host workshops and research programs on topical and interdisciplinary subjects in the area of matter under extreme conditions.

Further, EMMI is strongly committed to fostering the education and training of young researchers through a postdoctoral research program and structured training of graduate students. This educational aspect are realized in close collaboration with the graduate schools at the surrounding universities, like for the example the Helmholtz Graduate School for Heavy-Ion Research (HGS-HIRe) and the Heidelberg Graduate School of Fundamental Physics.

The new structures developed within EMMI provide a new and within Europe unique research infrastructure. It is therefore the explicit plan of GSI together with its partner institutions to establish EMMI as a permanent institute to perform interdisciplinary research on matter under extreme conditions.