Accelerator Testing of the General Antiparticle Spectrometer, a Novel Approach to Indirect Dark Matter Detection

Abstract

We report on recent accelerator testing of a prototype general antiparticle spectrometer (GAPS). GAPS is a novel approach for indirect dark matter searches that exploits the antideuterons produced in neutralino-neutralino annihilations. GAPS captures these antideuterons into a target with the subsequent formation of exotic atoms. These exotic atoms decay with the emission of X-rays of precisely defined energy and a correlated pion signature from nuclear annihilation. This signature uniquely characterizes the antideuterons. Preliminary analysis of data from a prototype GAPS in an antiproton beam at the KEK accelerator in Japan has confirmed the multi-X-ray/pion star topology and indicated X-ray yields consistent with prior expectations. Moreover our success in utilizing solid rather than gas targets represents a significant simplification over our original approach and offers potential gains in sensitivity through reduced dead mass in the target area.