Three hundred electromagnetic calorimeter modules were shipped from China to Russia for installation on the NICA collider, as announced by the JINR press service. These modules form a key part of the detector system planned for NICA, a major physics facility being assembled to explore high-energy phenomena. The delivery underscores the international collaboration driving the project and the scale of the detector infrastructure under construction for NICA.
When completed, NICA is expected to stand as a leading collider in Russia, enabling advanced investigations in high-energy physics. The project is already in a late stage of development, with plans in place to begin operations that will allow scientists to probe fundamental interactions at unprecedented energy densities. While direct comparisons with the Large Hadron Collider or other large accelerators are not straightforward due to differing mission goals and experimental parameters, NICA is designed to deliver unique insights within its own research program and energy regime.
An electromagnetic calorimeter, or ECAL, is a detector subsystem that measures the energy of particles produced in high-energy collisions, including electrons, positrons, and photons. For the MPD (Multi-Purpose Detector) at NICA, a total of 2,400 ECAL modules are required to achieve the planned performance. The production involved Chinese partners from five leading centers affiliated with Tsinghua University, who bring extensive experience in ECAL construction for high-energy experiments. In Russia, production of 800 ECAL modules was carried out by the Tenzor instrument factory in Dubna, along with facilities in Moscow and Protvino. Chinese collaborators are also expected to manufacture an additional 400 modules, while Moscow and Protvino have already begun the corresponding production at the same scale to maintain schedule and consistency across the system.
Throughout the project, Tsinghua University has played a long-standing role as a partner to NICA, contributing to the collaboration from near the inception of the endeavor. The joint effort includes around 20 scientific organizations from China, reflecting a broad national commitment to advancing detector technology and high-energy physics research in collaboration with Russian partners and institutions. This multi-national, multi-institutional approach aims to ensure the MPD and its ECAL subsystem meet stringent performance requirements and reliability standards essential for the collider’s research program.
In parallel with detector development, scientists continue to report on discoveries related to extragalactic flows and the behavior of cold gas in the cosmos, illustrating the broader context of astrophysical and particle physics research that intersects with investigations conducted at facilities like NICA. The partnership structure, technological exchanges, and ongoing scientific results all contribute to a dynamic ecosystem where international collaboration accelerates progress across disciplines and national laboratories.