Development of Lithium-Drifted Silicon Detectors and Investigation of Cosmic Antihelium Sensitivity for the GAPS Experiment -- an Indirect Search for Dark Matter ...

• Main Author: Saffold, Nathan Arnett
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Columbia University 2021
• Subjects: Astrophysics; Particles Nuclear physics; Dark matter Astronomy; Cosmology; Balloons > Experiments; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-zp3y-xs91; https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-zp3y-xs91

Uncovering the nature of dark matter is one of the most pressing problems in 21st century cosmology. Despite overwhelming evidence that dark matter exists and vigorous experimental efforts to detect it, dark matter has evaded detection and its fundamental nature remains shrouded in mystery. Indirect dark matter detection experiments search for Standard Model byproducts of dark matter annihilation or decay. At low energies, cosmic antideuterons provide an especially clean dark matter signature, since the production of low-energy antideuterons from conventional astrophysical processes is highly suppressed. The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is an Antarctic balloon experiment designed to search for low-energy cosmic antinuclei as signatures of dark matter. GAPS is optimized to detect low-energy antideuterons, as well as to provide unprecedented sensitivity to low-energy antiprotons and antihelium nuclei. GAPS uses a novel approach to detect antinuclei, based on the formation, decay, and annihilation ...