2017/01/01 by Ong, R. A., Aramaki, T., Bird, R. +26 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Particle Detector Development and Performance
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1710.00452
openalex publication_date 2017/01/01 · openalex created_date 2020/05/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The GAPS experiment is designed to carry out a sensitive dark matter search\nby measuring low-energy cosmic ray antideuterons and antiprotons. GAPS will\nprovide a new avenue to access a wide range of dark matter models and masses\nthat is complementary to direct detection techniques, collider experiments and\nother indirect detection techniques. Well-motivated theories beyond the\nStandard Model contain viable dark matter candidates which could lead to a\ndetectable signal of antideuterons resulting from the annihilation or decay of\ndark matter particles. The dark matter contribution to the antideuteron flux is\nbelieved to be especially large at low energies (E < 1 GeV), where the\npredicted flux from conventional astrophysical sources (i.e. from secondary\ninteractions of cosmic rays) is very low. The GAPS low-energy antiproton search\nwill provide stringent constraints on less than 10 GeV dark matter, will\nprovide the best limits on primordial black hole evaporation on Galactic length\nscales, and will explore new discovery space in cosmic ray physics.\n Unlike other antimatter search experiments such as BESS and AMS that use\nmagnetic spectrometers, GAPS detects antideuterons and antiprotons using an\nexotic atom technique. This technique, and its unique event topology, will give\nGAPS a nearly background-free detection capability that is critical in a\nrare-event search. GAPS is designed to carry out its science program using\nlong-duration balloon flights in Antarctica. A prototype instrument was\nsuccessfully flown from Taiki, Japan in 2012. GAPS has now been approved by\nNASA to proceed towards the full science instrument, with the possibility of a\nfirst long-duration balloon flight in late 2020. Here we motivate low-energy\ncosmic ray antimatter searches and discuss the current status of the GAPS\nexperiment and the design of the payload.\n