AAfrag 2.01: Interpolation routines for Monte Carlo results on secondary production including light antinuclei in hadronic interactions

TL;DR

This paper provides tabulated cross sections for light antinuclei production in various hadronic interactions relevant to cosmic rays, using advanced Monte Carlo models to improve predictions for astrophysical searches.

Contribution

It introduces a new set of production cross sections for antideuteron and antihelium-3 based on QGSJET-II-04m and WiFunC, including event-by-event coalescence modeling.

Findings

Cross sections are provided for key cosmic ray interactions.

Monte Carlo models improve the accuracy of antinuclei production predictions.

Discussion on the importance of momentum correlations in Monte Carlo simulations.

Abstract

Light antinuclei, like antideuteron and antihelium-3, are ideal probes for new, exotic physics because their astrophysical backgrounds are suppressed at low energies. In order to exploit fully the inherent discovery potential of light antinuclei, a reliable description of their production cross sections in cosmic ray interactions is crucial. We provide therefore the cross sections of antideuteron and antihelium-3 production in $pp$, $p$He, He$p$, HeHe, $\bar pp$ and $\bar p$He collisions at energies relevant for secondary production in the Milky Way, in a tabulated form which is convinient to use. These predictions are based on QGSJET-II-04m and the state of the art coalescence model WiFunC, which evaluates the coalesence probability on an event-by-event basis, including both momentum correlations and the dependence on the emission volume. In addition, we comment on the importance of a Monte Carlo description of the antideuteron production and on the use of event generators in general. In particular, we discuss the effect of two-particle momentum correlations provided by Monte Carlo event generators on antinuclei production.