A systematic study of the strong interaction with P̄ANDA

The theory of Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) reproduces the strong interaction at distances much shorter than the size of the nucleon. At larger distance scales, the generation of hadron masses and confinement cannot yet be derived from first principles on basis of QCD. The P̄ANDA experiment at FAIR will address the origin of these phenomena in controlled environments. Beams of antiprotons together with a multi-purpose and compact detection system will provide unique tools to perform studies of the strong interaction. This will be achieved via precision spectroscopy of charmonium and open-charm states, an extensive search for exotic objects such as glueballs and hybrids, in-medium and hypernuclei spectroscopy, and more. An overview is given of the physics program of the P̄ANDA collaboration.