Scientists Meet Scientists –TUM-IAS Wednesday Coffee Talk by Prof. Laura Fabbietti: “The long journey of antinuclei in our Galaxy”

Events, WCT |


On April 19, 2023, Prof. Laura Fabbietti (Dense and Strange Hadronic Matter, TUM) will talk about “The long journey of antinuclei in our Galaxy.”

Abstract:
Low-energy antinuclei in cosmic rays are considered a promising probe for indirect dark matter searches. Some dark matter candidates, such as the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), are expected to annihilate in our galaxy and produce light antinuclei and other particles, which can be observed as cosmic rays at Earth. However, antinuclei can also be produced in ordinary cosmic ray collisions with interstellar gas particles.

The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC recently made the first measurement of the inelastic cross section of antihelium-3 nuclei on matter, employing the ALICE detector material as a target. The obtained inelastic cross sections have been implemented in the GALPROP propagation model to estimate the losses of antihelium-3 nuclei in the galaxy due to inelastic interactions with the interstellar medium.

We will present the antihelium-3 cross-section measurement and the resulting transparency of our galaxy to the propagation of antihelium-3 from dark matter annihilation and ordinary cosmic-ray collisions. These results enable the first experimental uncertainties from inelastic losses on the antinuclei flux, and confirm that antihelium-3 nuclei are indeed a promising probe for new physics, such as indirect dark matter searches.

Related TUM press release: Antihelium nuclei as messengers from the depths of the galaxy - TUM

Date: April 19, 2023
Time: 13:00 CEST (until approx. 14:00)
Location: online

Registration: The TUM-IAS Wednesday Coffee talks are currently held online via Zoom. To register and to receive the Zoom link, please send an email to events@ias.tum.de.


THE TUM-IAS WEDNESDAY COFFEE TALKS

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