Rapidity dependence of nuclear coalescence: impact on cosmic ray antinuclei

TL;DR

This paper discusses how extending rapidity coverage in LHC measurements of antinuclei production can improve cosmic ray flux predictions, highlighting the importance of rapidity effects and the need for extrapolation in collision energy.

Contribution

It demonstrates that rapidity coverage up to |y|<1.5 at the LHC is sufficient for cosmic ray modeling, reducing uncertainties in antinuclei flux predictions.

Findings

Rapidity coverage up to |y|<1.5 is adequate for astrophysical calculations.

Extrapolation in collision energy remains a significant uncertainty.

Extending rapidity measurements can improve cosmic ray flux predictions.

Abstract

Upcoming studies at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) aim to extend the rapidity coverage in measurements of the production cross section of antinuclei ${\rm \bar d}$ and $\overline{^3\rm He}$. We illustrate the impact of such studies on cosmic ray (CR) flux predictions, important, in turn, for the interpretation of results from CR experiments. We show that, in terms of the rapidity effect, covering the range $|y|<1.5$ at the LHC should be sufficient for the astrophysical CR calculation. Important extrapolation remains in other aspects of the problem, notably $\sqrt{s}$.