Hamburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 63: Kosmische Strahlung III
T 63.3: Vortrag
Dienstag, 1. März 2016, 17:20–17:35, VMP9 SR 29
Towards an antiproton measurement with AMS-02 — •Andreas Bachlechner — RWTH Aachen University
AMS-02 is a high-precision multi-purpose particle detector. It has been onboard the International Space Station since May 2011.
The antiproton measurement is an important part of the AMS-02 physics program. An excess above the expected spectrum due to interactions of cosmic rays with the interstellar matter can hint at exotic sources like dark matter annihilation. The antiproton-to-proton ratio and the antiproton flux itself may also improve the understanding of the origin and propagation of cosmic rays.
Due to the very small abundance of antiprotons in the cosmic radiation of about 10−5 compared to protons a very precise particle identification is crucial. The main backgrounds are other singly charged particles like protons, electrons, and pions produced within the detector material itself. At lower energies the time-of-flight system and the ring-imaging Cherenkov detector seperate light particles from protons. The electromagnetic calorimeter and the transition radiation detector redundantly suppress the electron background. The reconstruction of the charge sign by the magnetic spectrometer is limited by its resolution and has to be taken into account carefully.
The methods to identify antiprotons in the cosmic-ray measurement of AMS-02 in different energy regions will be presented. The ways to handle the uncertainties to the antiproton-to-proton ratio considering the various challenges will be discussed.