TH-PHD-2019-006

$\overline{\text{P}}$ANDA is a new experiment in hadron physics at the upcoming FAIR facility in Darmstadt, Germany. The combination of $\overline{\text{P}}$ANDA and
the antiproton beam, provided by the antiproton storage ring HESR, yields high production rates of
strange hyperon-antihyperon pairs. This enables multiple experiments in strangeness nuclear physics which allow to study the interaction of hyperons and
antihyperons within nuclear matter. This is essential to understand the composition of neutron star matter and solve the ``hyperon puzzle''.

The modularity of $\overline{\text{P}}$ANDA allows to
design and integrate a dedicated setup for the high resolution X-ray and $\gamma$ spectroscopy of heavy $\Xi^-$ hyperatoms and
double $\Lambda$ hypernuclei. The germanium detector array PANGEA (PANda GErmanium Array) is mandatory for these experiments.
Its optimization and integration into the $\overline{\text{P}}$ANDA target spectrometer is discussed in this thesis.
During the experiments at $\overline{\text{P}}$ANDA, the HPGe (High Purity Germanium) crystals of PANGEA will suffer from
inevitable hadronic background. %during the experiments.
Especially fast neutrons will damage the lattice structure of the crystal and deteriorate its resolution. This effect has
been experimentally studied in irradiation tests at the COSY accelerator in J\"ulich, Germany, with up to
\SI{5.6e9}{neutrons\per\centi\meter\squared}.
A large fraction of the performance loss of the detector could be corrected by analyzing the pulse shape of the detector response.
The initial crystal performance could be restored by annealing of the crystal in the laboratory after the irradiation.

The effects of the irradiation had to be kept in mind when the feasibility of the hyperatom experiment was studied. $\overline{\text{P}}$ANDA is unique
in its ability to study the $\Xi^-$ nucleon interaction in the neutron-rich periphery of $\Xi^-$-\ce{^{208}Pb} hyperatoms. Full simulations of the experiment show that multiple experimental observables will allow to measure the real and imaginary part of the $\Xi^-$ optical potential with a
precision of \SI{\pm 1}{\mega\eV}.