Seminar über aktuelle Frage der theoretischen Kernphysik

23.10.12 16:15

Probing the Excitation Spectrum of QCD

Bernhard Ketzer (München)

QCD is widely accepted as the fundamental theory of the strong interaction. Unfortunately, it is still not clear how the properties of states bound by the strong force can be explained from the underlying theory. This is because of the strongly increasing binding force at large distances, which eventually confines quarks in hadrons, and which cannot be treated perturbatively. Although theory and experiment have made considerable progress in understanding the structure of hadrons, it is still far from being completely understood, despite 40 years of worldwide efforts. In the past decade, the COMPASS experiment at CERN has provided impressive insight into the spin structure of nucleons, bound states of three constituent quarks. Precision spectroscopy of strongly interacting systems is one of the key issues in modern hadron physics, and may provide similar insight into the strong interaction as did the hydrogen spectrum for electrodynamics. With a more than twenty-fold increase of statistics compared to previous experiments, COMPASS has recently opened a new window on the light hadron spectrum. In addition to bound states of quarks and antiquarks, QCD also allows for more exotic configurations to be formed. The experimental observation of such systems thus constitutes a stringent test of non-perturbative QCD. Precision studies of bound systems made of heavier quarks is the domain of the new PANDA experiment at FAIR. A key feature of this experiment will be high statistics requiring unprecedented luminosity and sensitivity to production cross sections in the sub-nanobarn region. This can only be achieved by a hermetic detector with excellent resolution and particle identification capabilities, providing a very high acceptance for charged and neutral particles. In this talk, I will present recent results from COMPASS, and show the perspectives for the future of this exciting field at FAIR.

 

(Seminarraum I)

Kategorie: Kernphysik