Large-scale Simulations of Antihelium Production in Cosmic-ray Interactions

TL;DR

This study uses large-scale Monte Carlo simulations to estimate antihelium production in cosmic-ray interactions, revealing lower fluxes than previous simplified models and examining uncertainties in coalescence parameters.

Contribution

It extends an energy-dependent coalescence model to simulate light antinuclei production, providing more accurate flux estimates and analyzing uncertainties in the process.

Findings

Simulated antihelium fluxes are lower than simplified model predictions.

Uncertainty in coalescence parameters significantly affects flux estimates.

Extended coalescence mechanism improves accuracy of cosmic-ray antihelium production modeling.

Abstract

The possibility of antihelium production in interaction of cosmic rays with the interstellar gas is studied using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. For this purpose, an energy-dependent coalescence mechanism developed previously is extended to estimate the production of light antinuclei (${}^3\overline{\text{He}}$ and ${}^4\overline{\text{He}}$). The uncertainty in the coalescence parameter and its effect on the expected antiparticle flux is also investigated. The simulated background antihelium fluxes are found to be lower than the fluxes predicted by simplified models using numerical scaling techniques.