Speaker
Rene Ong
(LLR-Ecole Polytechnique/UCLA)
Description
The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) experiment is a balloon-borne instrument
designed to detect low-energy (< 0.5 GeV/n) anti-deuterons, which could be a
signature for dark matter annihilation. In the energy region probed by GAPS, very
little anti-deuteron background is expected from conventional astrophysical sources
and hence the detection by GAPS of even a few anti-deuterons would be very
significant. GAPS will consist of a large Si(Li) tracker, surrounded on the top and
sides by a time-of-flight system, that also serves as an anti-coincidence shield.
Anti-deuterons are detected by an exotic atom technique which produces characteristic
X-rays and pion tracks in the Si(Li) detector. The current status of GAPS will be
reviewed with emphasis placed on the development of a prototype detector (pGAPS),
scheduled for flight in 2011.
Primary author
Rene Ong
(LLR-Ecole Polytechnique/UCLA)
Co-author
GAPS Collaboration
(None)
