Hadron Physics Opportunities at FAIR
Abstract
This White Paper outlines a coordinated, decade-spanning programme of hadron and QCD studies anchored at the GSI/FAIR accelerator complex. Profiting from intense deuteron, proton and pion beams coupled with high-rate capable detectors and an international theory effort, the initiative addresses fundamental questions related to the strong interaction featuring confinement and dynamical mass generation. This includes our understanding of hadron-hadron interactions and the composition of hadrons through mapping the baryon and meson spectra, including exotic states, and quantifying hadron structure. This interdisciplinary research connects topics in the fields of nuclear, heavy-ion, and (nuclear) astro (particle) physics, linking, for example, terrestrial data to constraints on neutron star structure. A phased roadmap with SIS100 accelerator start-up and envisaged detector upgrades will yield precision cross sections, transition form factors, in-medium spectral functions, and validated theory inputs. Synergies with external programmes at international accelerator facilities worldwide are anticipated. The programme is expected to deliver decisive advances in our understanding of non-perturbative (strong) QCD and astrophysics, and high-rate detector and data-science technology.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.15986,
title = {Hadron Physics Opportunities at FAIR},
author = {J. G. Messchendorp and F. Nerling and P. Achenbach and J. Aichelin and M. Albaladejo and L. An and K. Aoki and G. Appagere and V. Baru and M. Bashkanov and A. Bauswein and A. Belias and J. Bernhard and P. P. Bhaduri and Ł. Bibrzycki and D. Blaschke and M. Bleicher and C. Blume and S. Bolognesi and N. Brambilla and E. Bratkovskaya and I. Ciepał and S. Collins and V. Crede and R. Das and A. Denig and S. Diehl and S. Dobbs and S. Dolan and B. Dönigus and M. Döring and A. Dubla and G. Eichmann and E. Epelbaum and C. Fernández Ramírez and L. Fields and C. S. Fischer and A. M. Foda and T. Galatyuk and P. Gasik and F. Giacosa and K. Götzen and B. Grube and F. -K. Guo and A. Guskov and J. Haidenbauer and H. -W. Hammer and C. Hanhart and C. Höhne and N. Huesken and P. Hurck and K. Itahashi and R. Kamiński and K. H. Kampert and R. Kliemt and C. M. Ko and B. Kubis and A. Kupsc and S. Leupold and M. Lorenz and F. Maas and R. Maciula and K. B. M. Mahn and M. Mai and V. Mathieu and D. Mihaylov and M. Mikhasenko and D. Mohler and Y. Morino and C. Morningstar and E. Nandy and H. Noumi and J. R. Peláez and M. T. Peña and A. Pilloni and B. Ramstein and C. Rappold and T. Reichert and J. Ritman and C. D. Roberts and D. Rönchen and S. Roy and T. Saito and F. Sakuma and P. Salabura and F. Sánchez and C. Scheidenberger and L. Schmitt and T. Song and J. Steinheimer and J. Stroth and C. Sturm and A. Szczepaniak and A. Szczurek and H. Takahashi and J. Taylor and L. Tolos and J. M. Torres-Rincon and R. Tyson and I. Vidaña and T. Wąchała and D. Wielanek and D. Winney and G. Wolf and G. Żarnecki and H. Zbroszczyk},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.15986},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
White Paper of the "QCDatFAIR" initiative