Illuminating dark matter and primordial black holes with interstellar antiprotons

Abstract

Interstellar antiproton fluxes can arise from dark matter annihilating or decaying into quarks or gluons that subsequently fragment into antiprotons. Evaporation of primordial black holes also can produce a significant antiproton cosmic-ray flux. Since the background of secondary antiprotons from spallation has an interstellar energy spectrum that peaks at $\sim 2\gev$ and falls rapidly for energies below this, low-energy measurements of cosmic antiprotons are useful in the search for exotic antiproton sources. However, measurement of the flux near the earth is challenged by significant uncertainties from the effects of the solar wind. We suggest evading this problem and more effectively probing dark-matter signals by placing an antiproton spectrometer aboard an interstellar probe currently under discussion. We address the experimental challenges of a light, low-power-consuming detector, and present an initial design of such an instrument. This experimental effort could significantly increase our ability to detect, and have confidence in, a signal of exotic, nonstandard antiproton sources. Furthermore, solar modulation effects in the heliosphere would be better quantified and understood by comparing results to inverse modulated data derived from existing balloon and space-based detectors near the earth.

18 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Observability of Gamma Rays from Dark Matter Neutralino Annihilations in the Milky Way Halo
• Measurements of the Cosmic-Ray Positron Fraction From 1 to 50 GeV
• The Energy Spectra and Relative Abundances of Electrons and Positrons in the Galactic Cosmic Radiation
• Measurement of Low-Energy Cosmic-Ray Antiprotons at Solar Minimum
• Multi-GeV photons from electron-dark matter scattering near Active Galactic Nuclei

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Primordial Black Holes
• Fundamental Particle Structure in the Cosmological Dark Matter
• A novel antimatter detector based on X-ray deexcitation of exotic atoms
• Primordial black hole constraints with Hawking radiation -- a review
• Development of the Gaseous Antiparticle Spectrometer for Space-based Antimatter Detection
• Spatial Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays in Diffusion Models: II- Exotic Primary Cosmic Rays
• Candidates for non-baryonic dark matter
• Antiprotons below 200 MeV in the interstellar medium: perspectives for observing exotic matter signatures
• Dark matter in the universe
• Antinuclei from Primordial Black Holes