Large-scale Simulations of Antihelium Production in Cosmic-ray Interactions

Abstract

The possibility of antihelium production in interaction of cosmic rays with the interstellar gas is studied using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. For this purpose, an energy-dependent coalescence mechanism developed previously is extended to estimate the production of light antinuclei (${}^3\overline{\text{He}}$ and ${}^4\overline{\text{He}}$). The uncertainty in the coalescence parameter and its effect on the expected antiparticle flux is also investigated. The simulated background antihelium fluxes are found to be lower than the fluxes predicted by simplified models using numerical scaling techniques.