Limits on the nuclearite flux using the ANTARES neutrino telescope

TL;DR

This study uses nine years of ANTARES data to set the first and most stringent upper limits on the flux of nuclearites, strange quark matter particles, at Galactic velocities, enhancing the search for exotic matter with neutrino telescopes.

Contribution

It provides the first upper limits on nuclearite flux using a neutrino telescope, improving constraints for particles with Galactic velocities and specific mass thresholds.

Findings

Upper limits on nuclearite flux at ~5 x 10^{-17} cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1}

Mass detection threshold of 4 x 10^{13} GeV/c^2

First limits established with a neutrino telescope

Abstract

In this work, a search for nuclearites of strange quark matter by using nine years of ANTARES data taken in the period 2009-2017 is presented. The passage through matter of these particles is simulated %according to the model of de R\'{u}jula and Glashow taking into account a detailed description of the detector response to nuclearites and of the data acquisition conditions. A down-going flux of cosmic nuclearites with Galactic velocities ($\beta = 10^{-3}$) was considered for this study. The mass threshold for detecting these particles at the detector level is \mbox{ $4 \times 10^{13}$ GeV/c$^{2}$}. Upper limits on the nuclearite flux for masses up to $10^{17}$ GeV/c$^{2}$ at the level of $\sim 5 \times 10^{-17}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ are obtained. These are the first upper limits on nuclearites established with a neutrino telescope and the most stringent ever set for Galactic velocities.