Accelerator Seminar

21 years of RHIC – performance far beyond the design

by Wolfram FISCHER (BNL)

Europe/Berlin
Description

The BNL Relativistic Ion Collider (RHIC) started operation more than two decades ago with a program of high-energy ion collisions. A few years later a program with polarized proton collisions was added, and the following years the program expanded further and further with ever-increasing luminosity, polarization, species combinations, energy range, and operational flexibility. The machine is now also preparing for use in the Electron-Ion Collider. We examine the path from the beginning to the present state, and outline the technical and other components and strategies to sustain a long and varied physics program.