Research News
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer weighs almost seven tonnes and stands four metres tall. With a strong magnet it guides the charged particles of cosmic radiation through the detectors and then produces images of these particles like a huge camera. Photo: NASA
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Searching Space for Antimatter and Dark Matter
KIT Experts Involved in Building the Instrument
These questions could be answered by precise surveying of cosmic radiation outside the Earth's atmosphere. To this effect, an international collaborative research team designed a spectrometer which the space shuttle Endeavour is to convey to the International Space Station. Furthermore, the scientists intend to use the spectrometer also to investigate what is the nature of the invisible "dark" matter. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02 weighs some 7 tonnes; essential components of the AMS-02 instrument were built by the RWTH Aachen university and the KIT.
Evidence of Antimatter Clearly Defined
"If one was to verify with the AMS detector even only one antihelium nucleus, this would constitute strong evidence for the existence of galaxies made of antimatter", says KIT researcher Wim de Boer, who heads the KIT's AMS team. "It is conceivable that larger amounts of antimatter were hurled in a different direction shortly after the Big Bang and thus a reaction with visible matter was prevented", explains de Boer. "Finding an anticarbon nucleus consisting of six antiprotons and six antineutrons would be even more spectacular, since it is not possible to produce such heavy nuclei by way of collision. They only can be "baked" inside collapsing antimatter stars. An additional source of antimatter could be the annihilation or destruction of dark matter particles. These particles, so far verified only by their gravitational force, are electrically neutral and therefore can be their own antiparticles, destroying each other when colliding. In the event of mutual destruction, the same amount of particles and antiparticles originate in turn, which could be traceable as additional components in the energy spectra of cosmic radiation.
