Search for stable Strange Quark Matter in lunar soil

Abstract

We report results from a search for strangelets (small chunks of Strange Quark Matter) in lunar soil using the Yale WNSL accelerator as a mass spectrometer. We have searched over a range in mass from A=42 to A=70 amu for nuclear charges 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11. No strangelets were found in the experiment. For strangelets with nuclear charge 8, a concentration in lunar soil higher than $10^{-16}$ is excluded at the 95% confidence level. The implied limit on the strangelet flux in cosmic rays is the most sensitive to date for the covered range and is relevant to both recent theoretical flux predictions and a strangelet candidate event found by the AMS-01 experiment.

4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

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• The scenario of two families of compact stars 2. Transition from hadronic to quark matter and explosive phenomena
• From strangelets to strange stars: A unified description
• Strange quark matter as dark matter: 40 years later, a reappraisal
• Interactions of exotic particles with ordinary matter
• Gif Lectures on direct detection of Dark Matter
• Non-collider searches for stable massive particles
• Oscillating Magnetized Color Superconducting Quark Stars
• Can strangelets be detected in a large LAr neutrino detector?