The Spin Physics Detector (SPD) is a future multipurpose experiment foreseen to run at the NICA collider, which is currently under construction at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna, Russia). The main purpose of the experiment is the study of the nucleon spin structure in collisions of longitudinally and transversely polarized protons and deuterons at $\sqrt{s}$ up to 27 GeV and luminosity up to 10$^{32}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ ($pp$-collisions). The SPD is planned to operate as a universal facility for comprehensive study of the unpolarized and polarized gluon content of the nucleon at large Bjorken-$x$, using different complementary probes. Polarized quark distributions and fragmentation functions can be accessed via the production of high-$p_T$ hadrons. The results expected to be obtained by the SPD will play an important role in the general understanding of the nucleon content and will serve as a complementary input to the ongoing and planned studies at RHIC, and future measurements at the EIC (BNL) and fixed-target facilities at the LHC (CERN). Other polarized and unpolarized physics is possible especially at the first stage of NICA operation with reduced luminosity and collision energy of proton and ion beams. Physics part of the SPD project will be discussed on the two subsequent workshops (gluon part and first stage part).
The SPD experimental setup is being designed as a universal 4$\pi$ detector with advanced tracking and particle identification capabilities based on modern technologies. It will include such subsystems as a silicon vertex detector, a gaseous main tracker, a time-of-flight system, an electromagnetic calorimeter, a range system for muon identification and instruments for local polarimetry and luminosity control. To minimize possible systematic effects it will be equipped with a triggerless DAQ system.
The general concept of the SPD project was approved by the JINR Program Advisory Committee for Particle Physics in Jan, 2019. At the moment the Conceptual and Technical Design Reports of the SPD project are under preparation. Physics running of the SPD experiment is expected after 2025. Establishing of the SPD international collaboration is going on. The collaboration will begin to work in 2021. The SPD physics and detector construction programs are open for exciting and challenging ideas from theorists, experimentalists, engineers and computing specialists worldwide.
The workshop will take place by ZOOM only
