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| Perched on the International Space Station around 400 km above the Earth, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) collects data from primary cosmic rays before they can interact with the atmosphere. Image credit: NASA. |
The international team running the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) has announced the first results in its search for dark matter. They indicate the observation of an excess of positrons in the cosmic-ray flux. The results were presented by Samuel Ting, the spokesperson of AMS, in a seminar at CERN on 3 April, the date of publication in Physical Review Letters.
The AMS results are based on an analysis of some 2.5 × 1010 events, recorded over a year and a half. Cuts to reject protons, as well as electrons and positrons produced in the interactions of cosmic rays in the Earth’s atmosphere, reduce this to around 6.8 × 106 positron and electron events, including 400,000 positrons with energies between 0.5 GeV and 350 GeV. This represents the largest collection of antimatter particles detected in space.
The AMS results are based on an analysis of some 2.5 × 1010 events, recorded over a year and a half. Cuts to reject protons, as well as electrons and positrons produced in the interactions of cosmic rays in the Earth’s atmosphere, reduce this to around 6.8 × 106 positron and electron events, including 400,000 positrons with energies between 0.5 GeV and 350 GeV. This represents the largest collection of antimatter particles detected in space.
CERN Courier: AMS measures antimatter excess in space
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