The development of a system for optical tracking of frozen hydrogen microsphere targets (pellets) was done. It is intended for the upcoming hadron physics experiment PANDA at FAIR, Darmstadt, Germany. Knowledge of the interaction position, obtained with this system, will improve background rejection, precision of particle track reconstruction and will also help distinguish between primary and secondary vertices. Investigations of pellet detection conditions and pellet stream parameters were performed at Uppsala Pellet Test Station located at The Svedberg Laboratory. Various illumination and detection conditions were checked and optimized. The gained knowledge has been used to develop Monte Carlo procedures simulating experiments with pellets. Then simulations of pellet tracking were carried out including the constraints from the PANDA setup. The performance of the tracking was checked for various pellet stream and pellet detection conditions. Two procedures of pellet track reconstruction were developed – a fast procedure and a high efficiency procedure. The studies were done for one tracking section (just below pellet generator) and for two sections (the second just above pellet dump) and showed that the resolution of the tracking system can be better than 100 μm (sigma) in each direction and that the interaction point will be reconstructed for 70-95% of hadronic events, for suitable pellet stream and detection conditions. Usage of pellet tracking information in the hadronic data analysis was discussed, concerning the data taking, particle track reconstruction together with the PANDA micro vertex detector, hadronic event classification and treatment of the various classes. Test measurements with the WASA setup at FZJ, Jülich, Germany were done to check how the information about the number of pellets in the accelerator beam region can be used in the hadronic data analysis. Instantaneous rates of WASA "elastic" triggers were used for classification of hadronic events as coming from pellets or from a background. The study clearly showed that one can distinguish between the two event classes. The study gave experience in using two different systems synchronized with each other – the experiment's DAQ and another system that works with a much longer time scale – similar to the pellet tracking system.

The proton is a bound state of quarks which are held together by the strong force, mediated by gluons. The understanding of the proton structure is presently one of the central issues in hadron physics. The present work reports on phenomenological and experimental studies related to the possibilities offered by the future antiproton beam at the FAIR facility at Darmstadt, in the momentum range between 1.5 and 15 GeV/c. After a classification of the reaction channels which are accessible in antiproton-proton annihilation, the main features of the PANDA detector are described. A chapter of this thesis is dedicated to the study of the optical coupling between crystals and photodiodes in the electromagnetic calorimeter, which will be operated at low temperature (-25◦ C). Mechanical, thermal, optical properties and radiation hardness of two commercial glues are quantified. Feasibility studies of the reaction pp → e+ e− for the Time-Like proton form factor measurements at PANDA are presented. The electromagnetic structure of the proton is parametrized in terms of electric GE and magnetic GM form factors. The electromagnetic interaction is well described by the theory of quantum electrodynamics. The traditional tool to determine proton electromagnetic form factors is polarized and unpolarized electron-proton elastic scattering, assuming that the interaction occurs through the exchange of one virtual photon. The crossed symmetry channels pp ↔ e+ e− allow to access the Time-Like region. The background reactions are also studied, in particular the pp → π + π − channel. The results obtained from a realistic Monte Carlo simulation using PANDARoot show that the proton form factor ratio can be measured at PANDA with unprecedented accuracy. The effects of radiative corrections due to real and virtual photon emission are considered. Based on a model independent formalism, the calculation of the experimental observables for the pp → e+ e− reaction is extended to the annihilation into a heavy lepton pair which carries the same physical information on the proton structure as the electrons. In this case, the lepton mass can not be neglected. The same formalism is also applied in Space-Like region to the elastic scattering of protons from electrons at rest (pe-inverse kinematics). We suggest that the elastic pe scattering can be used to polarize and/or to measure the polarization of high energy proton (antiproton) beams, and allows a precise measurement of the proton charge radius.