1. Heavy Ion Physics at ultrarelativistic energies, 8 декабря
2. Applications: Fighting cancer with light ions: particle radiation therapy, 9 декабря
3. Applications: Thorium as fuel for reactors, 10 декабря
4. Instrumentation in high energy nuclear physics: detectors, readout electronics and data acquisition, 11 декабря

We still know little about the properties of nuclear or hadronic matter, i.e. matter that is composed of quarks and bound by the strong force – one of the fundamental forces in nature. Nuclear matter is only one possible manifestation. At very high densities and temperatures, the nucleons are expected to dissolve into their constituents and to form a plasma consisting of quarks and gluons. Such a phase transition from the quark-gluon plasma into hadronic matter, i.e. into our present-day matter, took place in the early universe, about 1 microsecond after the Big Bang. Exploring the nuclear-matter phase-diagram and identifying its different phases is one of the main challenges of modern nuclear physics. The focus of the research in the ultra-relativistic energy regime is to study and understand how collective phenomena and macroscopic properties emerge from the microscopic laws of elementary particle physics. During the last decade, experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and at the LHC at CERN have studied collisions between protons and nuclei as heavy as gold resp. lead at TeV energies. The results have shown that central collisions between heavy nuclei produce a hot and dense partonic system interpreted as the predicted Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). While a great number of individual results contribute to this conclusion, two observations stand out: the presence of very strong elliptic flow and the suppression of particles with high transverse momenta (pT). Basic concepts, experimental setups and key measurements will be discussed.

2.     Applications: Fighting cancer with light ions: particle radiation therapy 

Today, cancer is the second highest cause of death in developed countries. Its treatment still presents a real challenge. Particle therapy, a non-invasive technique for treating cancer using protons and light ions, has become more and more common, Norway is e.g. planning to build up to three proton facilities and one combined proton/light ion centre. The benefits of hadrontherapy are based both upon physical beam properties (Bragg peak) as well as on biological reasons (for heavy ions), resulting in more accurate and efficient irradiation of the tumour while reducing the dose to the surrounding healthy tissue. Basic concepts, the layout of a modern light ion facility and ongoing R&D in the field of online verification of dose delivery will be presented.

 3.     Applications: Thorium as fuel for reactors

In the 1960s and 1970s the development of thorium fuel for nuclear energy was of great interest worldwide. It was shown that thorium could be practically used  in any type of existing reactor. A large amount of work was carried out and resulted in a number of interesting developments, including prototype High Temperature Reactors, Light Water Reactors and Molten Salt Reactors. Most projects using thorium in their fuel cycles had been terminated by the 1980s. Recently, the use of thorium as a nuclear fuel has been reconsidered, mainly in connection with the Accelerator Driven System (ADS) concept. ADS couples an accelerator, a spallation source and a sub-critical reactor. At present, this concept focuses more on high-level waste transmutation than on energy production. The pros and cons of thorium fuel will be discussed.

 4.     Instrumentation in high energy nuclear physics: detectors, readout electronics and data acquisition

Detecting ten-thousands of particles which are emitted in a single collision between to heavy nuclei is a challenge for the detector, the readout electronics and the data acquisition system.  Two representative detector systems of the ALICE experiment will be presented. The central tracking device, a large Time Projection Chamber, will be upgraded for the high luminosity LHC runs; GEMs will be used as readout chambers which require a new radiation tolerant continuous readout system. In order to study properties of QCD like the colour-glass-condensate and gluon saturation effects, one has to detect direct photons at forward rapidities. An extremely segmented digital electromagnetic sampling calorimeter is currently being studied for this purpose.