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We investigate the signatures of antimatter in cosmic rays that would result from annihilations of the scalar dark matter candidate of the Inert Doublet Model. We consider three benchmark candidates, all consistent with the WMAP cosmic abundance and existing direct detection experiments, and confront the predictions of the model with the recent PAMELA, ATIC and HESS data. For a light IDM WIMP candidate, M_{DM} = 10 GeV, we argue that the positron and antiproton fluxes are large, but consistent with expected backgrounds, unless there is an enhancement in the local density of dark matter. For an IDM WIMP candidate with M_{DM} = 70 GeV, the contribution is lower than the expected backgrounds unless there is a large boost factor. However, the candidate is enable to explain the excesses observed by the recent experiments. Finally, for an IDM WIMP candidate with M_{DM}=10 TeV, it is possible to fit the PAMELA ...

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The study of antiprotons and positrons in cosmic rays with the PAMELA spectrometer

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The PAMELA (a Payload for Antimatter-Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) space mission has been launched on-board the Resurs-DK1 satellite on June 15{sup th} 2006 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. PAMELA is a particle spectrometer designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation with special focus on the investigation of the nature of dark matter, by mean of the measure of the cosmic-ray antiproton and positron spectra over the largest energy range ever achieved.

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PAMELA is a space telescope orbiting around the Earth since June 2006. The scientific objectives addressed by the mission are the measurement of the antiprotons and positrons spectra in cosmic rays, the hunt for anti-nuclei as well as the determination of light nuclei fluxes from Hydrogen to Oxygen in a wide energy range and with very high statistics. In this paper the charge discrimination capabilities of the PAMELA Time-Of-Flight system for light nuclei, determined during a beam test calibration, will be presented.

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Recently PAMELA released their first results on the positron and antiproton ratios. Stimulated by the new data, we studied the cosmic ray propagation models and calculated the secondary positron and antiproton spectra. The low energy positron ratio can be consistent with data in the convection propagation model. Above $\\sim 10$ GeV PAMELA data shows a clear excess on the positron ratio. However, the secondary antiproton is roughly consistent with data. The positron excess may be a direct evidence of dark matter annihilation or decay. We compare the positron and anti-proton spectra with data by assuming dark matter annihilates or decays into different final states. The PAMELA data actually excludes quark pairs being the main final states, disfavors gauge boson final states. Only in the case of leptonic final states the positron and anti-proton spectra can be explained simultaneously. We also compare the decaying and ...

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On the 15th of June 2006 the PAMELA experiment, mounted on the Resurs DK1 satellite, was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome and it has been collecting data since July 2006. PAMELA is a satellite-borne apparatus designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation, to investigate the nature of dark matter, measuring the cosmic-ray antiproton and positron spectra over the largest energy range ever achieved, and to search for antinuclei with unprecedented sensitivity. The apparatus comprises a time-of-flight system, a silicon-microstrip magnetic spectrometer, a silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter, an anticoincidence system, a shower tail catcher scintillator and a neutron detector. The combination of these devices allows charged particle identification over a wide energy range.

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A new calculation of the $\\bar{p}/p$ ratio in cosmic rays is compared to the recent PAMELA data. The good match up to 100 GeV allows to set constraints on exotic contributions from thermal WIMP dark matter candidates. We derive stringent limits on possible enhancements of the WIMP \\pbar flux: a $m_{\\rm WIMP}$=100 GeV (1 TeV) signal cannot be increased by more than a factor 6 (40) without overrunning PAMELA data. Annihilation through the $W^+W^-$ channel is also inspected and cross-checked with $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ data. This scenario is strongly disfavored as it fails to simultaneously reproduce positron and antiproton measurements.

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We provide a scenario in which a hidden U(1) gauge boson constitutes dark matter of the Universe and decays into the standard-model particles through a kinetic mixing with an $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson. Interestingly, our model can naturally account for the steep rise in the positron fraction recently reported by PAMELA. Moreover, we find that due to the charge assignment of $U(1)_{B-L}$, only a small amount of antiprotons are produced in the decay, which is also consistent with the PAMELA and other observational data.

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Dark Matter annihilation (DMA) may yield an excess of gamma rays and antimatter particles, like antiprotons and positrons, above the background from cosmic ray interactions. Several signatures, ranging from the positron excess, as observed by HEAT, AMS-01 and PAMELA, the gamma ray excess, as observed by the EGRET spectrometer, the WMAP-haze, and constraints from antiprotons, as observed by CAPRICE, BESS and PAMELA, have been discussed in the literature. Unfortunately, the different signatures all lead to different WIMP masses, indicating that at least some of these interpretations are likely to be incorrect. Here we review them and discuss their relative merits and uncertainties. New x-ray data from ROSAT suggests non-negligible convection in our Galaxy, which leads to an order of magnitude uncertainty in the yield of charged particles from DMA, since even a rather small convection will let drift the charged particles in the halo to outer ...

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Three companies--Amerada Hess Ltd., Shell Expro (a 50/50 joint partnership between Shell and Esso) and Texaco--have joined forces in a project that will combine their expertise. The Triton project will allow three fields (Bittern, Guillemot West and Gullemot Northwest) to be developed simultaneously using subsea technology, with the wellheads on the seafloor and 68 miles (110 km) of flowlines taking oil and gas produced from the fields to a central floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. These fields are located in the central area of the North Sea, about 118 miles from Aberdeen in 295 ft of water. The paper discusses the development of the fields, subsea technology, technical challenges, laying the pipeline, and project completion.

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Recent preliminary results from the PAMELA satellite indicate the presence of a large flux of positrons (relative to electrons) in the cosmic ray spectrum between approximately 10 and 50 GeV. As annihilating dark matter particles in many models are predicted to contribute to the cosmic ray positron spectrum in this energy range, a great deal of interest has resulted from this observation. Here, we consider pulsars (rapidly spinning, magnetized neutron stars) as an alternative source of this signal. After calculating the contribution to the cosmic ray positron and electron spectra from pulsars, we find that the spectrum observed by PAMELA could plausibly originate from such sources. In particular, a significant contribution is expected from the sum of all mature pulsars throughout the Milky Way, as well as from the most nearby mature pulsars (such as Geminga and B0656+14). The signal from nearby pulsars is expected to generate a small but ...

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A new measurement of the cosmic ray antiproton-to-proton flux ratio between 1 and 100 GeV is presented. The results were obtained with the PAMELA experiment, which was launched into low-earth orbit on-board the Resurs-DK1 satellite on June 15th 2006. PAMELA is equipped with a silicon-microstrip magnetic spectrometer and a silicon-tungsten imaging calorimeter and has been collecting data since July 2006. During 500 days of data collection a total of about 1000 antiprotons have been identified, including 100 above an energy of 20 GeV. The high-energy results are a ten-fold improvement in statistics with respect to all previously published data. The antiproton-to-proton flux ratio increases smoothly with energy up to about 10 GeV, in agreement with previous experiments, and then levels off. The data follow the trend expected from secondary production calculations and significantly constrain contributions from exotic sources, e.g. dark matter ...

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Present and future ultra-high-energy-cosmic-ray facilities (e.g., the Pierre Auger Observatory with South and North components) and TeV-gamma-ray telescope arrays (e.g., HESS/VERITAS and CTA) have the potential to set stringent indirect bounds on the nine Lorentz-violating parameters of nonbirefringent modified Maxwell theory minimally coupled to standard Dirac theory. Theoretically, the most interesting case is isotropic Lorentz violation, which is described by a single parameter [taken to vanish for the case of the standard Lorentz-invariant theory]. It appears possible to obtain in the future an upper (lower) indirect bound on this single isotropic Lorentz-violating parameter at the +10^{-21} (-10^{-17}) level. Comparison is made with existing and future direct bounds from laboratory experiments. The possible physics implications of upper bounds at the 10^{-21} level are also briefly discussed.

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Anti-proton and positron Galactic cosmic ray (GCR) spectra are among the key targets for indirect detection of dark matter (DM). The boost factors, corresponding to an enhancement of the signal|linked to the clumpiness properties of the dark matter distribution|, have been taken as high as thousands in the past. The dramatic impact of these boost factors for indirect detection of antiparticles, for instance with the PAMELA satellite or the coming AMS-02 experiment, asks for their detailed calculation. We take into account the state-of-the-art results of high resolution N-body dark matter simulations to calculate the most likely energy dependent boost factors|linked to the GCR propagation properties|, for anti-protons and positrons. The results from extreme, but still possible, configurations of the clumpy dark matter component is also discussed. Starting from the mass and space distributions of sub-halos, the anti-proton and positron propagators are used to ...

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Low energy buildings promise significant energy savings and help climate preservation by cutting down on annual heating requirements to values below 70 kWh per m{sup 2} dwelling space. It is expected that low energy constructions will become the common standard by the year 2000 as a result of the forthcoming energy saving ordinance. For making the introduction and implementation of this standard successful, practical experience will be essential. For this reason, the state government of Hesse has supported respective pilot projects 1987. In 1989 the funding programme `30 low energy buildings in Hesse` has been established. Consecutively - between 1989 and 1993 - 29 buildings were erected. At first, the thermal quality of the crafted building construction including the ventilation systems was checked. Consecutively, energy consumption, indoor and outdoor temperatures were measured over a time span of several years. The experience of the ...