# Cosmic Ray Antiprotons at High Energies

## TL;DR

This paper refines the calculation of secondary antiproton production at high energies using recent collider data, reducing uncertainties and improving the interpretation of cosmic ray antiproton measurements for dark matter searches.

## Contribution

It provides updated antiproton production cross sections based on collider data, addressing high-energy uncertainties and enhancing cosmic ray analysis accuracy.

## Key findings

- Increased antiproton cross sections at high energies due to Feynman scaling violation.
- Improved compatibility of AMS-02 data with secondary antiproton origin.
- Publicly available cross section data and uncertainty correlation matrix.

## Abstract

Cosmic ray antiprotons provide a powerful tool to probe dark matter annihilations in our galaxy. The sensitivity of this important channel is, however, diluted by sizable uncertainties in the secondary antiproton background. In this work, we improve the calculation of secondary antiproton production with a particular focus on the high energy regime. We employ the most recent collider data and identify a substantial increase of antiproton cross sections with energy. This increase is driven by the violation of Feynman scaling as well as by an enhanced strange hyperon production. The updated antiproton production cross sections are made publicly available for independent use in cosmic ray studies. In addition, we provide the correlation matrix of cross section uncertainties for the AMS-02 experiment. At high energies, the new cross sections improve the compatibility of the AMS-02 data with a pure secondary origin of antiprotons in cosmic rays.