Abstract
We report on recent accelerator testing of a prototype general antiparticle spectrometer(GAPS). GAPS uses a novel approach for indirect dark matter searches that exploits theantideuterons produced in neutralino–neutralino annihilations. GAPS captures theseantideuterons into a target with the subsequent formation of exotic atoms. These exoticatoms decay with the emission of x-rays of precisely defined energy and a correlated pionsignature from nuclear annihilation. This signature uniquely characterizes theantideuterons. Preliminary analysis of data from a prototype GAPS in an antiproton beamat the KEK accelerator in Japan has confirmed the multiple x-ray/pion star topology andindicated x-ray yields consistent with prior expectations. Moreover, our success in utilizingsolid rather than gas targets represents a significant simplification over our originalapproach and offers potential gains in sensitivity through reduced dead mass in the targetarea.
Published Version
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