Antiprotons below 200 MeV in the interstellar medium: perspectives for observing exotic matter signatures

Cosmic ray antiprotons can originate from dark matter annihilating into quarks that subsequently decay into antiprotons. Evaporation of primordial black holes also can produce a significant antiproton flux. Since the spectrum of secondary antiprotons from cosmic ray interactions peaks at ~ 2 GeV and goes down sharply at lower energy, there is a window at energies < 1 GeV in which to look for excess antiprotons as a signature of these exotic antiproton sources. However, in the...

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 s...

Cosmic ray antiprotons have been detected for over 20 years and are now measured reliably. Standard particle and astrophysics predict a conventional spectrum and abundance of secondary antiprotons consistent with all current measurements. These measurements place limits on exotic Galactic antiproton sources and non-standard antiproton properties. Complications arise, particularly at low energies, with heliospheric modulation of cosmic ray fluxes and production of standard sec...

High energy collisions of cosmic ray (CR) nuclei with interstellar gas are believed to be the mechanism producing the majority of CR antiprotons. The distinguishing spectral shape with a maximum at 2 GeV and a sharp decrease towards lower energies makes antiprotons a unique probe of the models of particle propagation in the Galaxy and modulation in the heliosphere. Besides, accurate calculation of the secondary antiproton flux provides a ``background'' for searches for exotic...

A new generation of upcoming space-based experiments will soon start to probe the spectrum of cosmic ray antiparticles with an unprecedented accuracy and, in particular, will open up a window to energies much higher than those accessible so far. It is thus timely to carefully investigate the expected antiparticle fluxes at high energies. Here, we perform such an analysis for the case of antiprotons. We consider both standard sources as the collision of other cosmic rays with ...

Recent measurements of the CR antiproton flux have been shown to pose a problem for conventional propagation models. In particular, models consistent with secondary/primary nuclei ratio in CR produce too few antiprotons, while matching the ratio and the antiproton flux requires ad hoc assumptions. This may indicate an additional local CR component or new phenomena in CR propagation in the Galaxy. We discuss several possibilities which may cause this problem.

The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons has been measured in the range 0.18 to 3.56 GeV, based on 458 antiprotons collected by BESS in recent solar-minimum period. We have detected for the first time a distinctive peak at 2 GeV of antiprotons originating from cosmic-ray interactions with the interstellar gas. The peak spectrum is reproduced by theoretical calculations, implying that the propagation models are basically correct and that different cosmic-ray species under...

Cosmic-ray antiprotons are a powerful tool for astroparticle physics. While the bulk of measured antiprotons is consistent with a secondary origin, the precise data of the AMS-02 experiment provides us with encouraging prospects to search for a subdominant primary component, e.g. from dark matter. In this brief review, we discuss recent limits on heavy dark matter as well as a tentative signal from annihilation of dark matter with a mass $\lesssim 100$ GeV. We emphasize the s...

High-energy collisions of cosmic-ray nuclei with interstellar gas are believed to be the mechanism producing the majority of cosmic ray antiprotons. Due to the kinematics of the process they are created with a nonzero momentum; the characteristic spectral shape with a maximum at ~2 GeV and a sharp decrease towards lower energies makes antiprotons a unique probe of models for particle propagation in the Galaxy and modulation in the heliosphere. On the other hand, accurate calc...

The AMS-02 experiment is measuring the cosmic ray antiproton flux with high precision. The interpretation of the upcoming data requires a thorough understanding of the secondary antiproton background. In this work, we employ newly available data of the NA49 experiment at CERN, in order to recalculate the antiproton source term arising from cosmic ray spallations on the interstellar matter. We systematically account for the production of antiprotons via hyperon decay and discu...