Today, the GSI/FAIR accelerator facilities successfully started a new operating phase to conduct scientific experiments of the FAIR Phase 0 program. From February to July, scientists from all over the world will investigate numerous research questions in the fields of nuclear physics, atomic physics, biophysics, materials research and plasma physics in the framework of approximately 80 approved experiments. We look forward to a rich harvest of scientific results.

Jörg Blaurock will continue his successful work as Technical Managing Director of GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH and Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe GmbH (FAIR GmbH) for the next five years. His second term has begun on February 1, 2021. The FAIR Council and the GSI Supervisory Board have acknowledged his achievements and expressed their wish for him to continue for another term.

Where and how does nature produce noble metals such as gold and platinum? This is one of the most exciting questions in physics. Astrophysical observations were able to unveil this mystery only a few years ago. The worldwide attention was immense; the interest in the topic has grown strongly since then. A group of top-class experts now evaluated and summarized the current state of knowledge and presented a review article in the renowned scientific journal "Reviews of Modern Physics". More than…

The GSI Helmholtzzentrum and the future accelerator center FAIR start the New Year with an exciting new digital offer: Beginning in February, special online visits will be organized. The live moderated events offer a comprehensive insight into current research and the experimental facilities at GSI/FAIR and allow questions to be asked and discussed in real time. Also included is an exclusive view at the mega construction site for the future accelerator center FAIR, one of the largest…

The first long multiplet for the superconducting fragment separator (Super-FRS) of the new FAIR accelerator, produced by the company ASG Superconductors in Italy, was delivered to the test stand at the European research center CERN in Switzerland. A cooperation agreement exists between GSI/FAIR and CERN for the testing of accelerator magnets, under which the multiplet will undergo a series of detailed quality tests before delivery to Darmstadt.

An international research team succeeded in gaining new insights into the artificially produced superheavy element flerovium, element 114, at the accelerator facilities of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. Under the leadership of Lund University in Sweden and with significant participation of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) as well as the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) in Germany and other partners, flerovium was produced and investigated.

Scientists are able to selectively knockout nucleons and preformed nuclear clusters from atomic nuclei using high-energy proton beams. In an experiment performed at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) in Osaka in Japan, the existence of preformed helium nuclei at the surface of several tin isotopes could be identified in a reaction. The results confirm a theory, which predicts the formation of helium clusters in low-density nuclear matter and at the surface of heavy nuclei.

Novel calculations have enabled the study of nearly 700 isotopes between helium and iron, showing which nuclei can exist and which cannot. In an article published in Physical Review Letters, scientists report how they simulated for the first time using innovative theoretical methods a large region of the chart of nuclides based on the theory of the strong interaction. The ExtreMe Matter Institure EMMI of GSI and TU Darmstadt is also involved in the research efforts.

Great progress has been made and important stages are completed within the FAIR project, one of the largest construction projects for research worldwide. A new time lapse video created with a sophisticated filming technique makes particularly tangible these developments on the mega construction site during the last three years. Several videos, recorded with regular drone flights over the site, were superimposed precisely with GPS support and thus combined to one single video.