Status of the mega-science project NICA

Abstract

Abstract The Mega-Science project NICA (Nuclotron-based Ion Collider fAcility) is under construction at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna (Russia). This is the first international mega-science project which will be build on the territory of the Russian Federation. The heavy ion programme at NICA includes two planned detector systems: the Baryonic Matter at Nuclotron (BM@N) and the Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD). The mission of future experiments at NICA is to explore the phase diagram of QCD matter at collision energies, where the highest net-baryon densities will be created. The perspectives for the experiments at NICA and the designed physics performance of the detector components will be presented and discussed.