AMS-02 in space: physics results, overview, and challenges

TL;DR

AMS-02, a sophisticated cosmic ray detector on the ISS since 2011, has provided high-precision measurements revealing anomalies in leptonic spectra that suggest potential new physics or astrophysical sources.

Contribution

This paper presents new high-energy leptonic data from AMS-02 and discusses implications for cosmic ray sources, dark matter, and astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

New leptonic spectra indicate the need for additional sources.

Data suggest possible dark matter or astrophysical origins for anomalies.

Future measurements will help discriminate between scenarios.

Abstract

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a state of the art particle detector measuring cosmic rays (CRs) on the International Space Station (ISS) since May 19th 2011. AMS-02 identifies CR leptons and nuclei in the energy range from hundreds MeV to few TeV per nucleon. Several sub-detector systems allow for redundant particle identification with unprecedented precision, a powerful lepton-hadron separation, and a high purity of the antimatter signal. The new AMS-02 leptonic data from 1 to 500 GeV are presented and discussed. These new data indicate that new sources of CR leptons need to be included to describe the observed spectra at high energies. Explanations of this anomaly may be found either in dark-matter particles annihilation or in the existence of nearby astrophysical sources of $e^{\pm}$. Future data at higher energies and forthcoming measurements on the antiproton spectrum and the boron-to-carbon ratio will be crucial in providing the discrimination among the different scenario.