To learn whether any of these antiprotons originate from dark matter, physicists therefore need to estimate how frequently antiprotons are produced in collisions in between protons and hydrogen as well as in between protons and helium. While some measurements of the first have been made, and LHCb reported in 2017 the first-ever measurement of the 2nd, that LHCb measurement involved just prompt antiproton production– that is, antiprotons produced right at the place where the accidents occurred.
The LHCb experiment at CERN Credit: CERN
In their brand-new study, the LHCb group looked also for antiprotons produced at some distance from the accident point, through the change, or “decay,” of particles called antihyperons into antiprotons. To make this new measurement and the previous one, the LHCb scientists, who usually utilize data from proton– proton crashes for their investigations, instead utilized information from proton– helium accidents obtained by injecting helium gas into the point where the two LHC proton beams would generally clash.
By analyzing a sample of some 34 million proton– helium crashes and determining the ratio of the production rate of antiprotons from antihyperon decomposes to that of prompt antiprotons, the LHCb scientists found that, at the collision energy scale of their measurement, the antiprotons produced via antihyperon rots contribute a lot more to the total antiproton production rate than the amount anticipated by a lot of designs of antiproton production in proton– nucleus crashes.
LHCb experiment cavern at LHC. Credit: CERN.
” This outcome matches our previous measurement of prompt antiproton production, and it will improve the forecasts of the models,” says LHCb spokesperson Chris Parkes. “This enhancement might in turn help space-based experiments discover proof of dark matter.”
” Our technique of injecting gas into the LHCb collision point was initially developed to measure the size of the proton beams,” states LHCb physics coordinator Niels Tuning. “It is really great to see once again that it also improves our understanding of how frequently antimatter must be developed in cosmic crashes in between protons and atomic nuclei.”
A proton– proton crash event tape-recorded by the LHCb detector, revealing the track followed by an antiproton formed in the collision. Credit: CERN
Recently at the Quark Matter conference and prior to that at the Rencontres de Moriond conference, the Large Hadron Collider appeal (LHCb) partnership presented an analysis of particle crashes at the Large Hadron Collider ( LHC) that may help figure out whether or not any antimatter seen by experiments in area stems from the dark matter that holds galaxies such as the Milky Way together.
Space-based experiments such as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer ( AMS), which was put together at CERN and is set up on the International Space Station (ISS), have discovered the portion of antiprotons, the antimatter counterparts of protons, in high-energy particles called cosmic rays. These antiprotons could be formed when dark-matter particles hit each other, but they might also be createdin other instances, such as when protons collide with atomic nuclei in the interstellar medium, which is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium.
LHCb exposes secret of antimatter development in cosmic accidents. The finding may help discover whether any antimatter seen by experiments in area stems from dark matter. Credit: CERN