Baur, G. (Editor) ; Büscher, M. (Editor) ; Filges, D. (Editor) ; Kilian, K. (Editor) ; Maier, R. (Editor) ; Rossen, P. v. (Editor) ; Speth, J. (Editor) ; Meißner, U.-G. (Editor) ; Ströher, H. (Editor) ; Freiesleben, H. (Editor) ; Institut für Kernphysik (Jülich)

2004
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag Jülich

Report No.: Juel-4107

Abstract: We have been very pleased by the positive response we received in connection with the new format of the annual report that was inaugurated last year and present for this reason this year’s activities in the same manner. The printed part concentrates on highlights and gives background information together with information about the institute. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the scientific articles in PDF-format and can easily be looked at with any PC or notebook computer. Firstly, let me mention a most notable event for our institute, the retirement of Professor J. Speth, who had been in charge as director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics for more than 20 years. With deep gratitude we remember his many outstanding contributions and scientific visions, that have been instrumental to obtain with COSY a new powerful research instrument. We are fortunate that he will be still at our institute, which allows us to benefit also in the future from his distinguished experience. At the same time it is a great pleasure for me to welcome Professor Ulf-G. Meißner, who took over this position at a time that has great significance for the future of the institute. We highly esteem his decision to join us despite his many obligations that he has as chair in theoretical physics at the University of Bonn. His dedication to Quantumchromodynamics, symmetries, and effective field theories will be of great importance for the future physics program. The year 2003 had been special in many ways as the institute is preparing itself for a paradigmatic change in its future funding. This initiative had been started by the federal government under the term “Program oriented Funding” (PoF) and aims to set long term perspectives for the various research fields. Our institute jointly with GSI has outlined mid term and long-term perspectives in the general field “Structure of Matter” and specifically in our case “Physics of Hadrons”. The objectives are summarized in a Helmholtz Research Programme Report under the title “Physics of Hadrons and Nuclei” Our institute also contributed its expertise to advance accelerator development within the European framework. HP-NIS is aimed to extend the performance limits of High Performance Negative Ion Sources while our contribution in the framework of CARE (Coordinated Accelerator Research in Europe) concentrates on the improvement of new acceleration structures for high intensity pulsed machines. The endorsement of the federal government for the GSI proposal to build a large and universal accelerator facility brings into reach the exciting opportunity to extend the future physics program into the charmed regime. We have, therefore, committed ourselves to actively participate in this promising project by taking a leading role in the construction of the HESR ring, which will provide anti-protons with unprecedented intensity and beam quality. Another important milestone for our institute has been the decision to become host for the WASA detector, which presently is taking data at the CESIUS ring. The decision of the WASA collaboration to transfer the detector to COSY will have a major impact on our physics program as it dramatically extends our detection capabilities. There has been a general excitement in hadron physics because of experimental indications for a new exotic quark matter, which seemingly may also have appeared in data taken by the TOF collaboration. Naturally, the whole issue is still in a state of intense and controversial debate. But unanimity exists that more experimental investigations are required to come to an all-convincing conclusion and that if this new state of matter exists it will turn a new page in strong interaction hadron physics. CANU has always been at the heart of COSY. As our user community has meanwhile widened and gotten much more international it was felt necessary to change the meaning of the acronym to reflect this. The CANU assembly has unanimously adopted the new definition “$\underline{C}$OSY $\underline{A}$ssociation of $\underline{N}$etworking $\underline{U}$niversities” in its December meeting. The work presented in this report would not have been possible without the dedication of our technicians and engineers. Equally important has been the support of the IKP service groups and of the infrastructure of the Forschungszentrum Jülich, especially those from central divisions for electronics (ZEL) and advanced technology (ZAT). As always, the students working on their diploma and on their PhD-theses had a substantial impact on advancing the research at COSY. We gladly mention with gratitude, too, the fruitful collaboration with CANU and the many outside users, who have been the foundation of the common success. Our gratitude extends to the advisory committees whose help was crucial in the often-difficult decision-making process. Indispensable as well was the support that many outside users obtained by the BMBF and through the FFE-program of the Forschungszentrum Jülich. Last but not least we are deeply indebted to the board of directors of the Forschungszentrum Jülich for their sustained commitment to the COSY research program.

Keyword(s): nuclear physics

1. Institut 3 (Theoretische Kernphysik) (IKP-3)