Speaker
Description
The BNL Relativistic Ion Collider (RHIC) started operation in 2000 with a program of high-energy ion collisions. A few years later a unique program with polarized proton collisions was added, and the following years the program expanded further and further with the Au-Au luminosity increasing to 44x of the Au-Au design using a with novel bunched beam stochastic cooling system, proton polarization to 56% at the highest energy, 12 different species combinations including 4 asymmetric ones, an extension of the energy range below the nominal injection energy for which the first bunched beam electron cooler was operated, and operational flexibility that allowed for more than 10 different modes in a single year.
We examine the path from the beginning to the end of the physics program in 2025 and outline the technical and other components and strategies to sustain a long and varied physics program. Parts of RHIC are now prepared for use in the Electron-Ion Collider.
