since the first international workshop on the future international facility
for beams of ions and antiprotons at GSI three years ago, there have been
several important developments. In collaboration with the international
science community the Conceptual Design Report was developed, preceded and
followed by altogether nearly 30 topical workshops up to now, by the
formation of proto-collaborations, and by international collaborations in
accelerator and instrumentation R&D. Most importantly, based on the 2002
science review and positive recommendation by the Wissenschaftsrat, the top
governmental science advisory committee in Germany, the German Federal
Government in February of 2003 has given green light for the construction of
the new facility.

To discuss the science and to assess the status of the proposed research
programs, to coordinate R&D, the advanced technical design and the
development of prototype components for accelerators and instrumentation,
and to plan for the construction of the facility, we announce the above
workshop. An important component will be the presentations from the newly
formed collaborations to discuss their programs, new proposals, new thoughts
etc.

The principal goal of the new facility is to provide the international
science community with a worldwide unique and technically innovative
accelerator system to perform future forefront research in the sciences
concerned with the basic structure of matter, and in intersections with
other fields. The facility will provide an extensive range of particle beams
from protons and their antimatter partners, antiprotons, to ion beams of all
chemical elements up to the heaviest one, uranium. Key features, in addition
to higher energies, are primarily upgrades by several orders of magnitude in
beam currents, and beams of the highest phase-space density and quality to
open new areas of research at the "intensity" and "precision" frontiers.
More detailed information is contained in the Conceptual Design Report
(CDR), which is available from the GSI Website
http://www.gsi.de/GSI-Future/cdr/

Please mark the workshop date in your calendar. The success of the workshop
- and of the future project - will depend on the interest from and the
involvement of the science communities. We would like to encourage you to
participate and help us with your perspective in the discussion of the
science and the necessary technical R&D, as well as in the construction of
this facility.

More detailed information about the workshop will be forthcoming shortly.

With best regards,

Walter Henning Scientific Director, GSI, Hans H. Gutbrod,
Project Coordinator