Electromagnetic decays of hyperons with PANDA@HADES

Understanding the strong interaction at the scale where quarks are confined into hadrons, is one of the most challenging questions in contemporary, curiosity-driven physics. At these low energies, the coupling of the strong interaction is so large that a perturbative approach to Quantum Chromo Dynamics cannot be applied. This manifests itself in the non-perturbative properties of the nucleon, such as mass, spin and structure. Hyperons, that are similar to nucleons but contain one or several heavier (e.g. strange) quarks, provide a new angle to the strong interaction and the nucleon. The advent of facilities that combine versatility with high intensity and precision enable studies of the hyperon inner structure, quantified by electromagnetic form factors. In particular, hyperon Dalitz decays provide access to low-energy properties like the charge and magnetization radii. The antiproton experiment PANDA at FAIR offers unique possibilities for such studies. However, the FAIR Phase 0 project PANDA@HADES enables hyperon Dalitz studies even before PANDA is taken into operation in its full glory. PANDA@HADES combines the excellent di-electron detection capabilities of the HADES experiment with the PANDA forward tracking system and will exploit a proton beam from the SIS18 synchrotron. The PhD project of Jana Rieger aims at performing the first measurements of the octet Sigma0 Dalitz decay, and to investigate the potential for future precision studies with PANDA at FAIR.