The NICA Complex and the MPD experiment at JINR: status and physics potential

Abstract

The Multi-Purpose Detector is under construction at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, as part of the NICA Accelerator Complex. The MPD Collaboration aims to study the phase diagram of QCD matter at maximum baryonic density, determine the nature of the phase transition between the deconfined and hadronic matter and search for the critical point. The combination of significant luminosity at NICA, collider geometry of the experiment and collision energies √SNN spanning the range of 4 to 11 GeV, where the transition from baryon to meson dominated matter is expected will allow MPD to provide unique insight into these questions. The status of the assembly of the detector in MPD Hall, as well as the progress in the production of MPD subdetectors will be reported on. The design physics performance of the detector will be discussed with the emphasis on the measurements in the strangeness sector. Tracking and particle identification procedures will enable precise determination of spectra of identified hadrons, including hyperons and hypernuclei, with the possibility of differential measurements and total yield extraction. The quality of directed and elliptic flow determination will be discussed, with comparison to model expectations. The sensitivity of event-by-event fluctuations to the nature of the phase transition and the presence of a critical point will be given. The femtoscopic analysis for charged pions and kaons has shown sensitivity to first order and cross-over phase transitions in EoS seen for the vHLLE model. All those studies will be put in context of addressing outstanding questions on the properties of the region of the QCD phase diagram probed by heavy-ion collisions in the NICA energy range.