COMPASS experiment

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COMPASS (Common Muon and Proton Apparatus for Structure and Spectroscopy) is a fixed-target particle physics experiment at the Super Proton Synchrotron, a particle accelerator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). It is a two-level magnetic spectrometer with calorimeters in both levels and particle identification in the first level.

There are several research projects underway at COMPASS:

• understanding the contribution of the gluons to the spin of the proton and other nuclei,
• production and investigation of exotic mesons,
• production and investigation of charmed mesons.

About 240 physicists from 11 countries and 28 institutions work in COMPASS. Until the start of the LHC experiments, COMPASS is the largest experiment at CERN that is taking data.

[edit] External links

• Collaboration Web site.
• COMPASS experimental setup.
• "COMPASS homes in on the nucleon spin", The CERN Courier, 25 July 2006 (accessed 26 June 2008).

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