The HADES-at-FAIR project

After the completion of the experimental program at SIS18 the HADES setup will migrate to FAIR, where it will deliver high-quality data for heavy-ion collisions in an unexplored energy range of up to 8 A GeV. In this contribution, we briefly present the physics case, relevant detector characteristics and discuss the recently completed upgrade of HADES. © 2012 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. 75 5 589 593 Cited By :

Measurement of low-mass e + e − pair production in 1 and 2 A GeV C–C collision with HADES

HADES is a secondary generation experiment operated at GSI Darmstadt with the main goal to study dielectron production in proton, pion and heavy ion induced reactions. The first part of the HADES mission is to reinvestigate the puzzling pair excess measured by the DLS collaboration in C+C and Ca+Ca collisions at 1A GeV. For this purpose dedicated measurements with the C+C system at 1 and 2A GeV were performed. The pair excess above a cocktail of free hadronic decays has been extracted and compared to the one measured by DLS. Furthermore, the excess is confronted with predictions of various model calculations. © 2009 Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica. 62 1 81 84 Cited By :

A Neck-Thyroid Phantom with Small Sizes of Thyroid Remnants for Postsurgical I-123 and I-131 SPECT/CT Imaging

Post-surgical I-123 and I-131 SPECT/CT imaging can provide information on the presence and sizes of thyroid remnants and/or metastasis for an accurate re-staging of disease to apply an individualized radioiodine therapy. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a neck–thyroid phantom with small sizes of thyroid remnants to be utilized for the optimization of post-surgical SPECT/CT imaging. 3D printing and molding techniques were used to develop the hollow human-shaped and -sized phantom which enclosed the trachea, esophagus, cervical spine, clavicle, and multiple detachable sections with different sizes of thyroid remnant in clinically relevant positions. CT images were acquired to evaluate the morphology of the phantom and the sizes of remnants. Triple-energy window scattered and attenuation corrected SPECT images were acquired for this phantom and for a modified RS-542 commercial solid neck–thyroid phantom. The response and sensitivity of the SPECT modality for different administered I-123 and I-131 activities within the equal-size remnants of both phantoms were calculated. When we compared the phantoms, using the same radiopharmaceutical and similar activities, we found that the measured sensitivities were comparable. In all cases, the I-123 counting rate was higher than the I-131 one. This phantom with capabilities to insert different small sizes of remnants and simulate different background-to-remnants activity ratios can be utilized to evaluate postsurgical thyroid SPECT/CT imaging procedures

Characterization of attenuation and respiratory motion artifacts and their influence on SPECT MP image evaluation using a dynamic phantom assembly with variable cardiac defects

BACKGROUND: A phantom assembly that simulates the respiratory motion of the heart was used to investigate artifacts and their impact on defect detection.METHODS: SPECT/CT images were acquired for phantoms with and without small and large cardiac defects during normal and deep breathing, and also at four static respiratory phases. Acquisitions were reconstructed with and without AC, and with misalignment of transmission and emission scans. A quantitative analysis was performed to assess artifacts. Two physicians reported on defect presence or absence and their results were evaluated.RESULTS: All large defects were correctly reported. Attenuation reduced uptake in the basal LV walls, increasing FN physicians' reports for small defects. Respiratory motion reduced uptake mainly in the anterior and inferior walls increasing FP and FN reports on images without and with small defects, respectively. Artifacts due to misalignment between CT and SPECT scans in normal breathing phantoms did not influence the physicians' reports.CONCLUSIONS: Attenuation and respiratory motion correction should be applied to reduce artifacts before reporting on small defects in deep breathing conditions. Artifacts due to misalignment between CT and SPECT scans do not affect defect detection in normal breathing when the LV is co-registered in SPECT and CT images prior to AC.</p