Physics perspectives with AFTER@LHC (A Fixed Target ExpeRiment at LHC)

Understand

AFTER@LHC is an ambitious fixed-target project in order to address open questions in the domain of proton and neutron spins, Quark Gluon Plasma and high-$x$ physics, at the highest energy ever reached in the fixed-target mode.

• Indeed, thanks to the highly energetic 7 TeV proton and 2.76 A.TeV lead LHC beams, center-of-mass energies as large as $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 115 GeV in pp/pA and $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 72 GeV in AA can be reached, corresponding to an uncharted energy domain between SPS and RHIC.
• We report two main ways of performing fixed-target collisions at the LHC, both allowing for the usage of one of the existing LHC experiments.
• In these proceedings, after discussing the projected luminosities considered for one year of data taking at the LHC, we will present a selection of projections for light and heavy-flavour production.