 | |
| Key SPS Experiments | |
|---|---|
| UA1 | Underground Area 1 |
| UA2 | Underground Area 2 |
| NA31 | NA31 Experiment |
| NA32 | Investigation of Charm Production in Hadronic Interactions Using High-Resolution Silicon Detectors |
| COMPASS | Common Muon and Proton Apparatus for Structure and Spectroscopy |
| SHINE | SPS Heavy Ion and Neutrino Experiment |
| NA62 | NA62 Experiment |
| SPS preaccelerators | |
| p and Pb | Linear accelerators for protons (Linac 2) and Lead (Linac 3) |
| (not marked) | Proton Synchrotron Booster |
| PS | Proton Synchrotron |
The NA58 experiment, or COMPASS (standing for "Common Muon and Proton Apparatus for Structure and Spectroscopy") is a 60-metre-long fixed-target experiment at the M2 beam line of the SPS at CERN. The experimental hall is located at the CERN North Area, close to the French village of Prévessin-Moëns. The experiment is a two-staged spectrometer with numerous tracking detectors, particle identification and calorimetry. The physics results are extracted by recording and analysing the final states of the scattering processes.
The versatile set-up, the use of different targets and particle beams allow the investigation of various processes. The main physics goals are the investigation of the nucleon spin structure and hadron spectroscopy. The collaboration consists of 220 physicists from 13 different countries, involving 28 universities and research institutes.