A supposedly small "+" is of great importance: Within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments, the JGU has once again successfully demonstrated its scientific capabilities - and PRISMA became PRISMA+ at the beginning of the year.
A key objective of PRISMA+ is the search for “New Physics”. Therefore, involved scientists focus on increasingly precise measurements: The construction of the new MESA accelerator will allow for experiments with unprecedented accuracy. Through energy recovery, it will achieve an extremely high beam intensity that would otherwise only be possible with an immense expenditure of energy. Another research theme is the weakly interacting universe and the exploration of the mysterious dark matter and the enigmatic neutrinos (Link: https://www.prisma.uni-mainz.de/research/ )
Today, PRISMA+ researchers can rely on an excellent research infrastructure on the Gutenberg Campus: With the approval of PRISMA in June 2012, important prerequisites have been created in recent years - for example for the recruitment of excellent scientists and the establishment of new research groups, for the setup of an innovative detector laboratory or – as already mentioned – for the assembly of MESA.
In the meantime the construction of the MESA experimental hall is in full swing (Link: https://www.prisma.uni-mainz.de/about/center-for-fundamental-physics-cfp/ ). Furthermore PRISMA+ researchers were very successful in establishing new strategic partnerships and the Mainz Physics Academy is taking shape: In a workshop with external speakers, the course was set for combining all measures in the area of graduate training and the promotion of young scientists. Taken together, the first year of PRISMA+ has been very successful and much has been achieved on campus and together with cooperation partners worldwide.