Searching for a dark matter particle with anti-protonic atoms

Abstract

A wide range of dark matter candidates have been proposed and are actively being searched for in a large number of experiments, both at high (TeV) and low (sub meV) energies. One dark matter candidate, a deeply bound $uuddss$ sexaquark, $S$, with mass $\sim 2$ GeV (having the same quark content as the hypothesized H-dibaryon, but long lived) is particularly difficult to explore experimentally. In this paper, we propose a scheme in which such a state could be produced at rest through the formation of $\bar{p}-^3$He antiprotonic atoms and their annihilation into $S$ + $K^+K^+\pi^-$, identified both through the unique tag of a S=+2, Q=+1 final state, as well as through full kinematic reconstruction of the final state recoiling against it.