Two years of flight of the Pamela experiment: results and perspectives

TL;DR

The PAMELA satellite experiment has been collecting data for two years to study cosmic rays, antimatter components, and solar particles, providing valuable insights into high-energy astrophysics and particle physics.

Contribution

This paper reports the first two years of PAMELA's operation, highlighting its scientific objectives, performance, and initial results in cosmic ray and antimatter research.

Findings

Detection of cosmic ray protons and electrons across a wide energy range

Measurement of solar particle event on December 13, 2006

Initial results on antimatter components in cosmic rays

Abstract

PAMELA is a satellite borne experiment designed to study with great accuracy cosmic rays of galactic, solar, and trapped nature in a wide energy range (protons: 80 MeV-700 GeV, electrons 50 MeV-400 GeV). Main objective is the study of the antimatter component: antiprotons (80 MeV-190 GeV), positrons (50 MeV-270 GeV) and search for antinuclei with a precision of the order of $10^{-8}$). The experiment, housed on board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite, was launched on June, $15^{th}$ 2006 in a $350\times 600 km$ orbit with an inclination of 70 degrees. In this work we describe the scientific objectives and the performance of PAMELA in its first two years of operation. Data on protons of trapped, secondary and galactic nature - as well as measurements of the December $13^{th}$ 2006 Solar Particle Event - are also provided.