Nuclearite search with the MACRO detector at Gran Sasso

TL;DR

This study reports on a search for nuclearites in cosmic radiation using the MACRO detector at Gran Sasso, setting flux limits over a range of velocities and contributing to understanding of exotic particles in cosmic rays.

Contribution

It provides the first flux limits for nuclearites at Gran Sasso using scintillator and track-etch detectors across a broad velocity range.

Findings

Flux limit of 2.7 x 10^-16 cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 for beta=2 x 10^-3

Set upper bounds on nuclearite flux in cosmic radiation

Demonstrated detector sensitivity to a wide velocity spectrum

Abstract

In this paper we present the results of a search for nuclearites in the penetrating cosmic radiation using the scintillator and track-etch subdetectors of the MACRO apparatus. The analyses cover the beta =v/c range at the detector depth (3700 hg/cm^2) 10^-5 < beta < 1; for beta = 2 x 10^-3 the flux limit is 2.7 x 10^-16 cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 for an isotropic flux of nuclearites, and twice this value for a flux of downgoing nuclearites.