Antideuterons as a signature of neutralino annihilation in the galactic halo

Abstract

Searches for low-energy antideuterons appear as a plausible alternative to antiprotons to indirectly probe for the existence of supersymmetric relics in the galactic halo. Above a few GeV/n, a dozen spallation antideuterons should be collected by the future AMS experiment on board ISS. For energies less than ∼ 3 GeV/n, the D̄ spallation component becomes negligible and may be supplanted by a possible supersymmetric signal. If a few low-energy antideuterons are discovered, this should be seriously taken as a clue for the existence of massive neutralinos in our Galaxy.