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



Acharya, S, Adamová, D, Adler, A, Adolfsson, J, Aglieri Rinella, G, Agnello, M, Agrawal, N, Ahammed, Z, Ahmad, S, Ahn, SU
et al (show 1013 more authors) (2022) Measurement of anti-3He nuclei absorption in matter and impact on their propagation in the Galaxy. Nature Physics, 19 (1). pp. 61-71.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>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 <jats:inline-formula><jats:alternatives><jats:tex-math>$${}^{3}\overline{{{{\rm{He}}}}}$$</jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow /> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>He</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>¯</mml:mo> </mml:mover> </mml:mrow> </mml:math></jats:alternatives></jats:inline-formula> 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 <jats:inline-formula><jats:alternatives><jats:tex-math>$${}^{3}\overline{{{{\rm{He}}}}}$$</jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow /> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>He</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>¯</mml:mo> </mml:mover> </mml:mrow> </mml:math></jats:alternatives></jats:inline-formula> 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 <jats:inline-formula><jats:alternatives><jats:tex-math>$${}^{3}\overline{{{{\rm{He}}}}}$$</jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow /> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>He</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>¯</mml:mo> </mml:mover> </mml:mrow> </mml:math></jats:alternatives></jats:inline-formula> momentum from 25% to 90% for cosmic-ray sources. The results indicate that <jats:inline-formula><jats:alternatives><jats:tex-math>$${}^{3}\overline{{{{\rm{He}}}}}$$</jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow /> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>He</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>¯</mml:mo> </mml:mover> </mml:mrow> </mml:math></jats:alternatives></jats:inline-formula> nuclei can travel long distances in the Galaxy, and can be used to study cosmic-ray interactions and dark-matter annihilation.</jats:p>

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 5106 Nuclear and Plasma Physics, 5107 Particle and High Energy Physics, 51 Physical Sciences
Divisions: Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Physical Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 05 May 2023 09:08
Last Modified: 21 Jun 2024 18:06
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01804-8
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01804-8
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3170205