Hypernuclear physics at $\overline{\mbox{P}}$ANDA

Abstract

Hypernuclear research will be one of the main topics addressed by the $\overline{\mbox{P}}$ anda experiment at the planned Facility for Anti-proton and Ion Research FAIR at Darmstadt, Germany. A copious production of Ξ-hyperons at a dedicated internal target in the stored anti-proton beam is expected, which will enable the high-precision γ-spectroscopy of double strange systems for the first time. In addition to the general purpose $\overline{\mbox{P}}$ anda setup, the hypernuclear experiments require an active secondary target of silicon layers and absorber material as well as high purity germanium (HPGe) crystals as γ-detectors. The design of the setup and the development of these detectors is progressing: a first HPGe crystal with a new electromechanical cooling system was prepared and the properties of a silicon strip detector as a prototype to be used in the secondary target were studied. Simultaneously to the hardware projects, detailed Monte Carlo simulations were performed to predict the yield of particle stable hypernuclei. With the help of the Monte Carlo a procedure for ΛΛ-hypernuclei identification by the detection and correlation of the weak decay pions was developed.

Supported by the Research Infrastructure Integrating Activity “Study of Strongly Interacting Matter” HadronPhysics2 (SPHERE) under the 7th Framework Programme of EU. We acknowledge financial support from the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (bmb+f) under contract number 06MZ9182.