Speaker
Prof.
Piero Spillantini
(Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita' di Firenze)
Description
"Antimatter and Dark matter research with the PAMELA space mission
On the 15th of June 2006, the PAMELA satellite-borne experiment was
launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome and it has been collecting data
since July 2006. The apparatus is composed of a time-of-flight system, a
silicon-microstrip magnetic spectrometer, a silicon-tungsten
electromagnetic calorimeter, an anticoincidence system, a shower tail
counter scintillator and a neutron detector. The combination of these
devices allows for precision studies of the charged cosmic radiation to be
conducted over a wide energy range (100 MeV - 100's GeV) with high
statistics. The primary scientific goal is the measurement of the
antiproton and positron energy spectrum in order to search for exotic
sources, such as dark matter particle annihilations. PAMELA is also
searching for primordial antinuclei (anti-helium), and testing cosmic-ray
propagation models through precise measurements of the antiparticle energy
spectrum and precision studies of light nuclei and their isotopes.
Moreover, PAMELA is investigating phenomena connected with solar
and earth physics. Results for antiproton-proton and positron-electron ratios after two years of in flight data taking are presented.
Author
Prof.
Piero Spillantini
(Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita' di Firenze)
