At the session of the JINR Scientific Council

Start of a new period

On 15-16 February, the 135th session of the Scientific Council of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was held in Dubna in a mixed format - the first in the new seven-year period of development of the Institute.

Members of the Council, leading scientists from many countries of the world heard and discussed the report of JINR Director on the results of the Institute's work in 2023 and learnt about the recommendations of the JINR Programme Advisory Committees held in January, this year. Changes to the Regulations on the election of directors and the appointment of deputy directors of JINR laboratories were approved. Members of the Council approved the positions of deputy directors of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems and the Laboratory of Neutron Physics. The results of the JINR annual prize competition for the best scientific papers were announced.

JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov presented to the members of the JINR Scientific Council a report on the current activities of the Institute that covered the decisions of the last session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of the JINR Member States, the results of the implementation of the Seven-Year Plan for the Development of JINR in 2017-2023, the progress of the projects included in Topical Plan for 2024, as well as the latest events in the field of international cooperation of the Institute.

"The first Scientific Council in the new seven-year plan, on the one hand, can be called the start of a new period, when we smoothly move from one seven-year plan to another. This new seven-year plan has become an additional impetus for us to achieve those achievements that were the result of several years of work," JINR Director commented.

At the PAC meeting in Almaty in November, changes in the membership of the Scientific Council and the final version of the Seven-Year Plan for the Development of JINR in 2024-2030 were discussed. The PAC approved the Topical plan for 2024. "The PAC noted that JINR has carried out a lot of work in the field of developing international cooperation. The Committee also noted that the number of employees at JINR increases, research is currently implemented with many countries: JINR participants and external partners," Grigory Trubnikov said. He called the increase in the number of young specialists of the staff of the Joint Institute and students undergoing pre-graduate internships a positive signal. In particular, a significant increase in the number of specialists sent from Vietnam and Egypt is expected. The number of candidate and doctoral dissertation defenses increases at the Institute.

In January, meetings of the JINR Programme Advisory Committees for Particle Physics, Condensed Matter Physics and Nuclear Physics were held.

The NICA megascience project develops rapidly. This winter, the collider's high-frequency system resonators were tested and cooling of the MPD detector started. Director noted the successful work of the MPD collaboration and the VBLHEP team in constructing all detector components with minimal delays. "I would like to thank my colleagues from Russian institutes that have done a lot for the project," JINR Director commented.

The first series of lectures on training operators involved in commissioning and operation of the NICA complex were held at VBLHEP. The power supply system for the collider's structural components is ready for commissioning. A new cryogenic compressor station will be launched this summer. The International SPD Detector Advisory Committee (SPD DAC), convened in December 2023, has begun reviewing an updated TDR SPD technical design report. The number of participating institutions in the MPD and SPD collaborations increases.

As for the results obtained a year ago, during the fourth commissioning session at NICA, some of the data have already been published, some are in progress. "The accuracy with which we process the results and the rate with which we can analyze them, as well as the new models that our theorists and experimentalists work on, all this allows us to see a very interesting effect. For example, according to the results of the BM@N experiment, the yield of strange particles is several times higher than expected. It means that we feel for some interesting effects and phenomena in the reactions that we carry out at Nuclotron energies," Grigory Trubnikov emphasized.

The ARIADNA collaboration on applied research at NICA develops. In the fourth session of the NICA PDP, the first applied research results were obtained by several partner organizations. The ARIADNA SOCHI station was tested using an argon beam. Two other stations have been installed - SIMBO and ISCRA.

JINR Director noted the successful participation of the Institute in the work of collaborations at CERN, as well as the high level of activity of JINR in fulfilling its obligations under the programme of the second stage of modernization of the ATLAS, CMS and ALICE detectors at the LHC. In the NA64 experiment with the participation of JINR, important results were obtained on the decays of rare kaons.

The Baikal-GVD deep-sea neutrino telescope was successfully developed. The other day, a new expedition to Lake Baikal began. In 2023, the largest neutrino telescope in the Northern Hemisphere included another 576 optical modules and two bottom cable lines. Soon, another 470 optical modules will be added to this number.

JINR neutrino experiments at nuclear reactors, including external ones, are currently developed. JINR Director highlighted the progress of the DANSS, RICOCHET and JUNO projects.

Experiments are still carried out at the Superheavy Element Factory with world-record sensitivity. Among the latest results is the observation of two events of the new isotope ²⁸⁸Lv in the reaction ⁵⁴Cr+²³⁸U that is an important stage in preparation for the synthesis of the new element 120 in the reaction ⁵⁴Cr+²⁴⁸Cm.

Development of the DRIBs-III accelerator complex is currently carried out. In spring, the first beams will be obtained at the U400-M isochronous cyclotron, the intensity of which will increase by 10-20% after modernization. The main magnet of the new accelerator complex DC-140 has been installed, the commissioning of which is expected at the end of 2024.

Construction work in the new U-400R experimental hall is ahead of schedule. "Thanks to the high pace of construction at FLNR, its launch will be ready a year earlier than has been scheduled. This is due to very well-structured communications not only between the laboratory and contractors, but also between engineering and administrative services. We work as a very well-coordinated and very energetic organism," Grigory Trubnikov commented.

According to the optimistic scenario, we can expect the IBR-2 reactor to resume operation in autumn (applications for external users will be collected in October for April-May 2025). In anticipation of putting the reactor into operation, work is underway to modernize the spectrometric complex: a number of spectrometers will increase their efficiency indicators by more than ten times. "In addition, three new facilities will be put into operation at IBR-2: the wide-aperture backscattering detector BSD-A for the high-resolution Fourier diffractometer, the small-angle neutron scattering and neutron radiography detector SANSARA and the inelastic neutron scattering spectrometer in inverse geometry BJN," JINR Director said.

Important results of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in the field of elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, as well as modern mathematical physics, including those aimed at theoretical support of the JINR experimental programme, were noted.

A Multifunctional Information and Computing Complex is currently developed at MLIT. In November, the 11th cloud cluster positioned at the INP MOE of the Republic of Kazakhstan was integrated into the JINR cloud infrastructure. Among the most interesting in the applied application of MLIT research, Grigory Trubnikov highlighted the platform and mobile application for recognizing plant diseases Doctor P. MLIT holds student schools on information technology twice a year.

Important investigations on the development and repair of radiation-induced clustered DNA double-strand breaks in brain cells were carried out at LRB. In October, a conference dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA was held at JINR. The Laboratory of Radiation Biology widely develops fundamental and applied research areas related to life sciences and condensed matter physics, thanks to the development of an interlaboratory research programme.

The JINR University Centre annually carries out student programmes START and INTEREST, holds popular science lectures for the citizens of Dubna and their children, as well as organizes visits of schoolchildren and students to JINR laboratories.

An important area of activity of the Joint Institute is international scientific and technical cooperation and extensive work is currently carried out in this area.

Last October, JINR representatives took part in the 5th meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Research Infrastructure (BRICS GRAIN); an agreement of intent was signed between JINR and the NAS of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In December, the JINR Information Centre was opened at the Arab Atomic Energy Agency in Tunisia; In Minsk, the JINR delegation took part in the anniversary of the State Committee for Science and Technology of Belarus. Several times during the year, JINR delegations visited Egyptian scientific centres and the IAEA in Vienna. Representatives of JINR and the main nuclear centre of South Africa, iThemba LABS exchanged visits. Meetings were held with scientists from Vietnam and Pakistan. Cooperation with Brazil is strengthened. Four joint scientific projects with Mexico were selected for implementation.

Over the past year, JINR employees have won high scientific awards more than once. In particular, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences from JINR won state awards of the Russian Federation referring the 300th anniversary of the RAS. The team of scientists including Grigory Trubnikov, Andrey Butenko, Anatoly Sidorin was awarded the Veksler Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Hamlet Khodzhibagiyan won the Challenge Prize, Alexander Malakhov won the Cherenkov Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Young scientists Lyudmila Kolupaeva and Elizaveta Bushmina were awarded RAS medals and the winners of the Moscow Region Governor's Prize were Alexander Nezvanov and Vladislav Shalaev.

The report sparked a lively and extended discussion. Physics professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico Ana Maria Cetto Kramis proposed to build cooperation with the editors of a specialized scientific journal in Mexico. President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Michel Spiro raised the question of the prospects for cooperation between the Joint Institute and CERN. Grigory Trubnikov assured that JINR is ready to ensure full cooperation of scientists and specialists from JINR Member States with CERN, to preserve and strengthen it, subject to mutually respectful recognition and implementation of mutual obligations by the parties and the extension of the International Cooperation Agreement JINR-CERN. Rector of the University of the Witwatersrand Zeblon Vilakazi noted that the results obtained by the Tier-1 computing grid centre at MLIT JINR are very significant for global partners. The Scientific Council highly appreciated the contribution of the JINR groups participating in experiments at the LHC to the physical analysis and modernization of facilities.

Heads of the JINR Programme Advisory Committees Itzhak Tserruya, Valery Nesvizhevsky and Denes Lajos Nagy informed the Scientific Council about the recommendations adopted at the meetings of the PAC for Particle Physics, Nuclear Physics and Condensed Matter Physics in January, 2024.

The Scientific Council highlighted the successful work of the VBLHEP JINR team and NICA collaborations in the development, commissioning and putting into operation of the accelerator complex. At the same time, the PAC PP drew the attention of SC members to the fact that the commissioning of NICA and the high priority given to NICA's flagship experiments: BM@N, MPD and SPD, cast doubt on the possibility of allocating beam time for other experiments in the coming years that may affect the timely implementation of related projects. The Scientific Council supported the PAC's recommendation to the Directorate of VBLHEP and NICA to determine a common strategy for the availability of beam time for users for the next 2-3 years.

The Scientific Council approved the opening of a new project "Fundamental and applied physics using beams of relativistic accelerated electrons (FLAP)" at the linear electron accelerator LINAC-200. Also, members of the Scientific Council supported the opening of the project at the Nuclotron "HyperNIS+SRC: Hyper Nuclear Intrinsic Strangeness and Short-Range Correlations". The initial stage of the programme is aimed at studying the lightest neutron-rich hypernuclei, such as ⁶H, ⁴H, ³H.

Members of the Scientific Council approved the recommendations of the PAC NP on projects scheduled for implementation in 2024. In particular, the SC supported the implementation of the DLNP scientific programme in nuclear physics. At the same time, the importance of efforts to further improvement of the experimental base at JINR and deepening of inter-laboratory cooperation between FLNR, DLNP and FLNP with BLTP on topics and areas of mutual interest to improve experimental and theoretical research results is emphasized.

The Scientific Council supported the recommendations of the PAC CMP on the selection of the optimal layout of the core of the future JINR NEPTUNE reactor. The further development of the scientific programme for the NEPTUNE reactor should be carried out. In addition, a new procedure for evaluating projects was proposed to the PAC CMP that was tested at committee meetings in 2023. The Scientific Council recommended using this procedure in the future.

A new edition of the Regulations on the election of directors and the approval of deputy directors of JINR laboratories was approved. The Scientific Council recommended its approval at the next PAC meeting in March 2024.

DLNP Director Evgeny Yakushev and FLNP Director Egor Lychagin presented proposals for the appointment of their deputies, whose candidacies were approved in a closed vote. Alexey Guskov, Head of the Department of Colliding Beams of DLNP, Head of the SPD NICA collaboration became the Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems for Research. At the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Bagdaulet Mukhametuly, a senior researcher at FLNP, deputy chief engineer of the VVR-K reactor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been appointed to the position of Deputy Director for Research.

At the end of the first day of the session, members of the Scientific Council visited the Laboratory of High Energy Physics and inspected the NICA accelerator complex under construction. In the presence of SC members, the grand opening of two stations for applied research at NICA was held: SIMBO (Station for Investigation of Medical Biological Objects) and ISCRA (Irradiation Station of Components of Radioelectronic Apparatus). Together with the SOCHI station, they constitute the infrastructure for applied research at ARIADNA.

On 16 February, the session opened with scientific reports from young scientists selected by the PAC for presentation at the SC session. Alexander Sheremetiev (VBLHEP) spoke about the development of technology for the production of double-sided silicon microstrip modules for upgrading the NICA BM@N silicon tracking system. Alexander Nezvanov (FLNP) gave a report "Enhanced targeted extraction of very cold neutrons using a reflector made of diamond nanoparticle powder." Asif Asadov (FLNP) presented the report "Phase transitions in Carpi-Gali oxides Ln₂Ti₂O₇ (Ln = La, Nd, Pr) at high pressures."

JINR Vice-Director Lachesar Kostov announced the results of the competition for the 2023 JINR Prizes for the best theoretical, experimental, scientific and methodological and scientific and technological, as well as scientific and technological applied papers to employees of the Institute.

The title of "Honorary Doctor of JINR" was awarded to member of the JINR Scientific Council Professor Chavdar Stoyanov, Head of the Laboratory of Nuclear Spectroscopy of the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy (INRNE), corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Grigory Trubnikov announced a vacancy for the position of Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions; elections will be held at the 137th session of the Scientific Council in a year.

The session ended with the adoption of a resolution by the Scientific Council. The next, 136th session of the Council will be held in September of this year.

JINR Press Office,
photo by Elena PUZYNINA