Signatures of exotic physics in antiproton cosmic ray measurements

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of high-energy antiproton measurements to detect signals of exotic physics like neutralino annihilations, proposing new strategies to distinguish these signals from cosmic ray backgrounds and examining the implications of finite antiproton lifetimes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach focusing on high-energy antiprotons to identify neutralino signatures and considers the impact of finite antiproton lifetimes on cosmic ray data interpretation.

Findings

Neutralino annihilation signals can be distinguished in high-energy antiproton spectra.

Certain neutralino models are consistent with current data if antiprotons have a lifetime as low as 0.15 Myr.

Upcoming experiments can test the proposed signatures in the near future.

Abstract

More than a decade ago it was noticed that an unexpectedly large value of the measured cosmic antiproton flux at low kinetic energies could be interpreted in terms of a neutralino-induced component. An overproduction of low energy antiprotons seems however to be disfavoured by recent data from the BESS experiment. The strategy we propose here is to focus instead on the high energy antiproton spectrum. We find cases in which the signal from neutralino annihilations in a clumpy halo scenario can be unambiguously distinguished from the cosmic ray induced component. Such signatures can be tested in the near future by upcoming experiments. We investigate also the possibility that antiprotons have a finite lifetime. We find cases in which the neutralino-induced flux is consistent with present data for a lifetime as low as 0.15 Myr, in clear violation of a recent bound derived from the antiproton cosmic ray flux.