The theory of supercritical atoms, the theory of coherent states and the K-harmonics method were also developed during the same period. The conceptual project of such fusion was created in mid 1980s. At the same time studies of supernova bursts were started. The experimental base of ITEP is the proton synchrotron which can accelerate the proton beam up to the energy of 10 GeV and makes it possible to use the secondary particles produced in interaction of protons with the internal targets. The experimental activities of ITEP have been always extremely varied.
All experiments make the maximum possible use of the available equipment.
The dominant research has been always focused on physics of elementary particles and hadron- nuclear interactions. These investigations began just after the synchrotron had been started in 1961. Since then the properties of various interactions were studied. For the first time the cross sections of the and backward scattering were measured, the nuclear scaling phehomenon was discovered, high-momentum transfer processes were investigated. The best result on the 2beta 2nu decay rate of the nucleus was obtained.