2004/11/22 by Jes Madsen
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0954-3899/31/6/025
published as J.Phys. G31 (2005) S833-S840 · 8 pages. SQM2004 plenary talk. Submitted to Journal of Physics G
arxiv created 2004/11/22 · openalex publication_date 2005/05/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Searching for strangelets in cosmic rays may be the best way to test the possible stability of strange quark matter. I review calculations of the astrophysical strangelet flux in the GV–TV rigidity range, which will be investigated from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) on the International Space Station, and discuss the merits of strangelets as ultra-high energy cosmic rays at EeV–ZeV energies, beyond the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin cutoff. I also address some 'counter-arguments' sometimes raised against the possibility of stable strangelets. It will be argued that stability of strange quark matter remains a viable possibility, which must be tested by experiments.