FLAIR – a facility for low-energy antiproton and ion research

In order to exploit the unique possibilities that will become available at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at GSI in Darmstadt, a collaboration of about 50 institutes from 15 countries was formed to efficiently enable an innovative research program towards low-energy antimatter-physics. In the Facility for Low-energy Antiproton and Ion Research (FLAIR) antiprotons and heavy (radioactive) ions are slowed down from 30 MeV to energies as low as 20 keV by a magnetic low-energy storage ring (LSR) and an electrostatic ultra-low energy storage ring (USR) or are even brought to rest by a universal trap facility (HITRAP). In this paper, the facility and the research program covered are briefly described with some emphasis on the accelerator chain and the expected particle numbers. for the FLAIR collaboration