A Measurement of Atomic X-ray Yields in Exotic Atoms and Implications for an Antideuteron-Based Dark Matter Search

Abstract

The General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is a novel approach for the indirect dark matter search that exploits cosmic antideuterons. GAPS utilizes a distinctive detection method using atomic X-rays and charged particles from the exotic atom as well as the timing, stopping range and dE/dX energy deposit of the incoming particle, which provides excellent antideuteron identification. In anticipation of a future balloon experiment, an accelerator test was conducted in 2004 and 2005 at KEK, Japan, in order to prove the concept and to precisely measure the X-ray yields of antiprotonic exotic atoms formed with different target materials [1]. The X-ray yields of the exotic atoms with Al and S targets were obtained as ~ 75%, which are higher than were previously assumed in [2]. A simple, but comprehensive cascade model has been developed not only to evaluate the measurement results but also to predict the X-ray yields of the exotic atoms formed with any materials in the GAPS instrument. The cascade model is extendable to any kind of exotic atom (any negatively charged cascading particles with any target materials), and it was compared and validated with other experimental data and cascade models for muonic and antiprotonic exotic atoms. The X-ray yields of the antideuteronic exotic atoms are predicted with a simple cascade model and the sensitivity for the GAPS antideuteron search was estimated for the proposed long duration balloon program [3], which suggests that GAPS has a strong potential to detect antideuterons as a dark matter signature. A GAPS prototype flight (pGAPS) was launched successfully from the JAXA/ISAS balloon facility in Hokkaido, Japan in summer 2012 [4, 5] and a proposed GAPS science flight is to fly from Antarctica in the austral summer of 2017-2018.

17 pages, 25 figures, accepted in "Astroparticle Physics"

References in corpus (5)

• Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters
• Antideuteron fluxes from dark matter annihilation in diffusion models
• Determination of the Cosmic Antideuteron Flux in a Monte Carlo approach
• The Prototype GAPS (pGAPS) Experiment
• The flight of the GAPS prototype experiment

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Dual MeV Gamma-Ray and Dark Matter Observatory -- GRAMS Project
• Review of the theoretical and experimental status of dark matter identification with cosmic-ray antideuterons
• Antideuteron Sensitivity for the GAPS Experiment
• Potential for Precision Measurement of Low-Energy Antiprotons with GAPS for Dark Matter and Primordial Black Hole Physics
• Fabrication of low-cost, large-area prototype Si(Li) detectors for the GAPS experiment
• The Prototype GAPS (pGAPS) Experiment
• Cosmic antihelium-3 nuclei sensitivity of the GAPS experiment
• Large-area Si(Li) detectors for X-ray spectrometry and particle tracking in the GAPS experiment
• Passivation of Si(Li) detectors operated above cryogenic temperatures for space-based applications
• Sensitivity of the GAPS Experiment to Low-energy Cosmic-ray Antiprotons
• Snowmass 2021 Letter of Interest: The GRAMS Project: MeV Gamma-Ray Observations and Antimatter-Based Dark Matter Searches
• GAPS - Dark matter search with low-energy cosmic-ray antideuterons and antiprotons
• Antihelium-3 Sensitivity for the GRAMS Experiment
• Application of Machine Learning to the Particle Identification of GAPS