Search for Stable Strange Quark Matter in Lunar Soil using the Mass Spectrometry Technique

TL;DR

This study used mass spectrometry on lunar soil samples to search for stable strange quark matter, setting the most sensitive limits to date on strangelet flux in cosmic rays within the mass range of 42 to 70 amu.

Contribution

It is the first experiment to use the Yale tandem accelerator as a mass spectrometer to search for strangelets in lunar soil within this mass range.

Findings

No strangelets detected at sensitivity levels down to ~10^{-17}

Established the most sensitive limit on strangelet flux in cosmic rays for the studied mass range

Extended the search for stable strange quark matter to lunar soil samples

Abstract

Strange quark matter is a postulated state which may be the true ground state of cold hadronic matter. Physicists have been searching for strange quark matter in the last several decades but found no definite evidence of its existence. In our experiment, we used the Yale tandem accelerator as a mass spectrometer to identify possible stable strangelets (small chunks of strange quark matter) in lunar soil. The search covers the mass range from A=42 to A=70 amu for nuclear charges 6, 8, and 9. No strangelets are found at sensitivity levels down to $\sim10^{-17}$. The implied limit on strangelet flux in cosmic rays is the most sensitive to date for the covered mass range.