Searching for a dark matter particle with anti-protonic atoms

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel experimental method to detect a hypothesized dark matter particle, the sexaquark, by producing and identifying it via antiprotonic helium atoms and their annihilation products.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental scheme to produce and detect the sexaquark dark matter candidate using antiprotonic atoms and specific decay signatures.

Findings

Potential to identify sexaquark through unique decay signatures

Method allows full kinematic reconstruction of decay products

Provides a new avenue for dark matter detection

Abstract

A wide range of dark matter candidates have been proposed and are actively being searched for in a large number of experiments, both at high (TeV) and low (sub meV) energies. One dark matter candidate, a deeply bound $uuddss$ sexaquark, $S$, with mass $\sim 2$ GeV (having the same quark content as the hypothesized H-dibaryon, but long lived) is particularly difficult to explore experimentally. In this paper, we propose a scheme in which such a state could be produced at rest through the formation of $\bar{p}-^3$He antiprotonic atoms and their annihilation into $S$ + $K^+K^+\pi^-$, identified both through the unique tag of a S=+2, Q=+1 final state, as well as through full kinematic reconstruction of the final state recoiling against it.