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Ulrich Becker - General Colloquium
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November 14, 2002
Ulrich Becker, Laboratory for Nuclear Science, M.I.T.
Anti and Dark Matter Search in Space using Charged Cosmics in the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
The apparent absence of antimatter in the universe must be reconciled with what is seen in high energy experiments where both matter and antimatter are created from energy thus must be supported or rejected by experiment. AMS is the first magnetic spectrometer in space looking for traces of anti- helium…. anti-carbon for above the atmosphere. A short precursor flight STS91 yielded surprising results such as an excess of positrons over electrons and provided much-improved limits on antimatter. Interesting technological questions arise and will be addressed in a follow–up experiment, AMS-02, which will run for 3 years on the space station with a more sophisticated detector, including a superconducting magnet. It will look much deeper into space and is sensitive to dark matter and high energy photons.