SMuK 2023 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 23: Invited Talks III

HK 23.2: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 22. März 2023, 11:30–12:00, HSZ/0002

ALICE determines the transparency of our galaxy to the passage of antihelium nuclei — •Laura Serksnyte for the ALICE Germany collaboration — Technical University of Munich

The measurements of the inelastic cross sections of antihelium-3 nuclei were performed by employing the ALICE detector material as a target. The antimatter-to-matter ratio and TOF-to-TPC matching methods were used in pp and Pb-Pb collisions, respectively. These, for the first time, measured inelastic cross sections have been implemented in the GALPROP propagation model to estimate the losses in the antihelium-3 cosmic ray fluxes due to inelastic interactions with the interstellar medium. Indeed, some dark matter candidates, such as the WIMPs, are expected to annihilate in our galaxy and produce, among other particles, light antinuclei, which can be observed as cosmic rays. However, the same antinuclei can also be produced in ordinary cosmic ray collisions with the interstellar gas. Thus, precise modelling of signal and background cosmic ray fluxes, including the inelastic losses in the interstellar medium, is required to draw conclusions from future antinuclei cosmic-ray measurements.

The results of this interdisciplinary study by ALICE allowed the determination of the transparency of our galaxy to the propagation of the antihelium-3 from dark matter annihilation and ordinary cosmic ray collisions, and to demonstrate that antihelium-3 nuclei are a promising probe for indirect dark matter searches. This research was funded by BMBF Verbundforschung (05P21WOCA1 ALICE) and the DFG under Germany's Excellence Strategy - EXC2094 - 390783311.