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The future international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt will provide unique research opportunities in the fields of nuclear, hadron, atomic and plasma physics. In particular, the available antiproton and ion beams offer the possibility to investigate fundamental aspects in strong interaction physics (QCD), such as the confinement of quarks, and the origin of hadron masses. The experiments PANDA (Antiproton Annihilation at Darmstadt) and CBM (Compressed Baryonic Matter) will be devoted to these studies on the nature of QCD pursuing complementary approaches: PANDA will investigate the properties of the strong force at the quark level, whereas CBM will explore the properties of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions.

The realization of the two experiments represents a major scientific and technological challenge. Physicists from all over the world will have to collaborate intensively in order to focus the scientific program and to develop the technology required for new detector and data taking systems. The observables and thus the experimental requirements are very similar for PANDA and CBM. Moreover, the required software tools for simulations and data analysis are practically identical. Both experiments will be operated at very high reaction rates (up to 10 MHz) which calls for unprecedented detector performance in terms of read-out speed and radiation hardness. Within the next years, both the PANDA and CBM collaborations have to develop:

·         low-mass silicon tracking systems with high vertex resolution for open charm identification

·         lepton detectors for the measurement of charmonium and low-mass vector mesons

·         fast gas detectors for charged particle tracking

·         self-triggered read-out electronics

·         high speed data acquisition

·         software framework for feasibility studies

The list of requirements common to PANDA and CBM clearly demonstrates that one can expect huge synergy effects in joint R&D on software and hardware which calls for networking. Therefore, we propose to create a common network with the main goal of exchanging expertise and know-how, and with the aim to develop common tools and infrastructures. We have already started cooperating in the development of a common software framework for the simulation and the data analysis activities. With the help of the EU FP7 we would like to extend this joint venture to all the common scientific and technical aspects, in order to efficiently approach and solve the problems with a more rational and efficient use of the available resources.

In order to strengthen the cooperation between PANDA and CBM we have also submitted joint JRA proposals to HadronPhysics2 on the development of GEM and Silicon detectors.

The international Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research is the largest and most challenging project in fundamental science worldwide within the next 10 years. Therefore, FAIR is given top priority within the European context, and is strongly endorsed by ESFRI and NuPECC. The experimental devices being designed and built by the PANDA and CBM collaborations represent a major scientific and technological effort in future hadron and nuclear matter research, addressing fundamental aspects of strong interaction physics.

The successful experimental investigations at CERN-LEAR and at the Fermilab Tevatron have demonstrated that antiproton annihilations are an extremely powerful tool to study matter at the quark level. The PANDA experiment represents the next step in the field of hadron physics towards new frontiers both in science and technology. The research program to be performed with the PANDA detector includes charmonium spectroscopy, the search for glueballs and hybrids, the study of D-mesons in matter, and the investigation of (double) hypernuclei.

The general goal of experiments with high-energy heavy ion beams is to investigate the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. Worldwide efforts, concentrated in experiments at RHIC and CERN-LHC, are focused on the search for a new phase of nuclear matter - the quark-gluon plasma - at very high temperatures and low net baryon densities. The CBM collaboration pursues a complementary strategy: the exploration of the high-density region of the QCD phase diagram with rare and penetrating diagnostic probes such as vector mesons and charmed particles. Lattice QCD calculations predict a crossover between hadronic and partonic matter at low baryon densities and high temperatures, whereas at high baryon densities a first-order phase transition and a critical end point is expected. The discovery of these prominent landmarks in the QCD phase diagram would represent a major breakthrough in QCD physics, and, therefore, it is in the focus of the CBM experiment.

The new international facility in Europe providing antiproton and ion beams of unprecedented intensity and quality will enable European physicists to perform world class research, and, hence, will attract foreign experts and European researchers working abroad. The realization of the PANDA and CBM project requires substantial financial and human resources. Many professional research groups from all over the world will collaborate, sharing scientific and technological expertise, and contributing know-how and funding. The result of these tremendous collective efforts finally will be concentrated in a European laboratory. The PANDA and CBM experiments would help to maintain and to strengthen the competitive position of European scientists in the fields of hadron physics and nuclear matter physics.