Antimatter research in Space

Abstract

Two of the most compelling issues facing astrophysics and cosmology today are to understand the nature of the dark matter that pervades the universe and to understand the apparent absence of cosmological antimatter. For both issues, sensitive measurements of cosmic-ray antiprotons and positrons, in a wide energy range, are crucial. Many different mechanisms can contribute to antiprotons and positrons production, ranging from conventional reactions up to exotic processes like neutralino annihilation. The open problems are so fundamental (i.e.: is the universe symmetric in matter and antimatter ?) that experiments in this field will probably be of the greatest interest in the next years. Here we will summarize the present situation, showing the different hypothesis and models and the experimental measurements needed to lead to a more established scenario.