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Measurement of anti-3He nuclei absorption in matter and impact on their propagation in the Galaxy

Acharya, S. ; Adolfsson, J. LU ; Basu, S. LU orcid ; Christiansen, P. LU ; Matonoha, O. LU ; Nassirpour, A.F. LU orcid ; Ohlson, A. LU ; Oskarsson, A. LU ; Richert, T. LU and Rueda, O.V. LU , et al. (2023) In Nature Physics 19(1). p.61-71
Abstract
In our Galaxy, light antinuclei composed of antiprotons and antineutrons can be produced through high-energy cosmic-ray collisions with the interstellar medium or could also originate from the annihilation of dark-matter particles that have not yet been discovered. On Earth, the only way to produce and study antinuclei with high precision is to create them at high-energy particle accelerators. Although the properties of elementary antiparticles have been studied in detail, the knowledge of the interaction of light antinuclei with matter is limited. We determine the disappearance probability of 3He ¯ when it encounters matter particles and annihilates or disintegrates within the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. We extract the... (More)
In our Galaxy, light antinuclei composed of antiprotons and antineutrons can be produced through high-energy cosmic-ray collisions with the interstellar medium or could also originate from the annihilation of dark-matter particles that have not yet been discovered. On Earth, the only way to produce and study antinuclei with high precision is to create them at high-energy particle accelerators. Although the properties of elementary antiparticles have been studied in detail, the knowledge of the interaction of light antinuclei with matter is limited. We determine the disappearance probability of 3He ¯ when it encounters matter particles and annihilates or disintegrates within the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. We extract the inelastic interaction cross section, which is then used as an input to the calculations of the transparency of our Galaxy to the propagation of 3He ¯ stemming from dark-matter annihilation and cosmic-ray interactions within the interstellar medium. For a specific dark-matter profile, we estimate a transparency of about 50%, whereas it varies with increasing 3He ¯ momentum from 25% to 90% for cosmic-ray sources. The results indicate that 3He ¯ nuclei can travel long distances in the Galaxy, and can be used to study cosmic-ray interactions and dark-matter annihilation. (Less)
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author collaboration
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Annihilation, Cosmic rays, Dark Matter, Transparency, Cosmic ray interactions, Dark matter, Dark matter particles, High-energy cosmic rays, High-energy particles, High-precision, Interstellar medias, Large Hadron Collider, Measurements of, Property, Galaxies
in
Nature Physics
volume
19
issue
1
pages
11 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85143911914
ISSN
1745-2473
DOI
10.1038/s41567-022-01804-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
869818ab-ae38-4641-9a08-0d6e99c84879
date added to LUP
2024-01-23 09:46:27
date last changed
2024-01-23 09:47:10
@article{869818ab-ae38-4641-9a08-0d6e99c84879,
  abstract     = {{In our Galaxy, light antinuclei composed of antiprotons and antineutrons can be produced through high-energy cosmic-ray collisions with the interstellar medium or could also originate from the annihilation of dark-matter particles that have not yet been discovered. On Earth, the only way to produce and study antinuclei with high precision is to create them at high-energy particle accelerators. Although the properties of elementary antiparticles have been studied in detail, the knowledge of the interaction of light antinuclei with matter is limited. We determine the disappearance probability of 3He ¯ when it encounters matter particles and annihilates or disintegrates within the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. We extract the inelastic interaction cross section, which is then used as an input to the calculations of the transparency of our Galaxy to the propagation of 3He ¯ stemming from dark-matter annihilation and cosmic-ray interactions within the interstellar medium. For a specific dark-matter profile, we estimate a transparency of about 50%, whereas it varies with increasing 3He ¯ momentum from 25% to 90% for cosmic-ray sources. The results indicate that 3He ¯ nuclei can travel long distances in the Galaxy, and can be used to study cosmic-ray interactions and dark-matter annihilation.}},
  author       = {{Acharya, S. and Adolfsson, J. and Basu, S. and Christiansen, P. and Matonoha, O. and Nassirpour, A.F. and Ohlson, A. and Oskarsson, A. and Richert, T. and Rueda, O.V. and Silvermyr, D. and Zinovjev, G. and Zurlo, N.}},
  issn         = {{1745-2473}},
  keywords     = {{Annihilation; Cosmic rays; Dark Matter; Transparency; Cosmic ray interactions; Dark matter; Dark matter particles; High-energy cosmic rays; High-energy particles; High-precision; Interstellar medias; Large Hadron Collider; Measurements of; Property; Galaxies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{61--71}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Physics}},
  title        = {{Measurement of anti-3He nuclei absorption in matter and impact on their propagation in the Galaxy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01804-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41567-022-01804-8}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}