Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher.
Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.
-
We present the first measurement of cosmic-ray fluxes of and isotopes in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 25 GV. The measurements are based on and nuclei collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station from May 2011 to October 2023. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the and fluxes exhibit nearly identical time variations and, above , the time variations of , , He, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes are identical. Above , we find an identical rigidity dependence of the and fluxes. This shows that they are both produced by collisions of heavier cosmic-ray nuclei with the interstellar medium and, in particular, excludes the existence of a sizable primary component in the flux. Published by the American Physical Society2025more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available May 1, 2026
-
We report the properties of precision time structures of cosmic nuclei He, Li, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes over an 11-year solar cycle from May 2011 to November 2022 in the rigidity range from 1.92 to 60.3 GV. The nuclei fluxes show similar but not identical time variations with amplitudes decreasing with increasing rigidity. In particular, below 3.64 GV the Li, Be, and B fluxes, and below 2.15 GV the C, N, and O fluxes, are significantly less affected by solar modulation than the He flux. We observe that these differences in solar modulation are linearly correlated with the differences in the spectral indices of the cosmic nuclei fluxes. This shows, in a model-independent way, that solar modulation of galactic cosmic nuclei depends on their spectral shape. In addition, solar modulation differences due to nuclei velocity dependence on the mass-to-charge ratio ( ) are not observed. Published by the American Physical Society2025more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available February 1, 2026
-
Precision measurements by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station of the deuteron ( ) flux are presented. The measurements are based on nuclei in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 21 GV collected from May 2011 to April 2021. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the flux exhibits nearly identical time variations with the , , and fluxes. Above 4.5 GV, the flux ratio is time independent and its rigidity dependence is well described by a single power law with . This is in contrast with the flux ratio for which we find . Above we find a nearly identical rigidity dependence of the and fluxes with a flux ratio of . These unexpected observations indicate that cosmic deuterons have a sizable primarylike component. With a method independent of cosmic ray propagation, we obtain the primary component of the flux equal to of the flux and the secondary component of the flux equal to of the flux. Published by the American Physical Society2024more » « less
-
Abstract Galaxy clusters are expected to be both dark matter (DM) reservoirs and storage rooms for the cosmic-ray protons (CRp) that accumulate along the cluster's formation history. Accordingly, they are excellent targets to search for signals of DM annihilation and decay atγ-ray energies and are predicted to be sources of large-scaleγ-ray emission due to hadronic interactions in the intracluster medium (ICM).In this paper, we estimate the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to detect diffuseγ-ray emission from the Perseus galaxy cluster.We first perform a detailed spatial and spectral modelling of the expected signal for both the DM and the CRp components. For each case, we compute the expected CTA sensitivity accounting for the CTA instrument response functions. The CTA observing strategy of the Perseus cluster is also discussed.In the absence of a diffuse signal (non-detection), CTA should constrain the CRp to thermal energy ratioX500within the characteristic radiusR500down to aboutX500< 3 × 10-3, for a spatial CRp distribution that follows the thermal gas and a CRp spectral index αCRp= 2.3. Under the optimistic assumption of a pure hadronic origin of the Perseus radio mini-halo and depending on the assumed magnetic field profile, CTA should measure αCRpdown to about ΔαCRp≃ 0.1 and the CRp spatial distribution with 10% precision, respectively. Regarding DM, CTA should improve the current ground-basedγ-ray DM limits from clusters observations on the velocity-averaged annihilation cross-section by a factor of up to ∼ 5, depending on the modelling of DM halo substructure. In the case of decay of DM particles, CTA will explore a new region of the parameter space, reaching models withτχ> 1027s for DM masses above 1 TeV.These constraints will provide unprecedented sensitivity to the physics of both CRp acceleration and transport at cluster scale and to TeV DM particle models, especially in the decay scenario.more » « less
-
Abstract Monochromatic gamma-ray signals constitute a potential smoking gun signature for annihilating or decaying dark matter particles that could relatively easily be distinguished from astrophysical or instrumental backgrounds. We provide an updated assessment of the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to such signals, based on observations of the Galactic centre region as well as of selected dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We find that current limits and detection prospects for dark matter masses above 300 GeV will be significantly improved, by up to an order of magnitude in the multi-TeV range. This demonstrates that CTA will set a new standard for gamma-ray astronomy also in this respect, as the world's largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory, in particular due to its exquisite energy resolution at TeV energies and the adopted observational strategy focussing on regions with large dark matter densities. Throughout our analysis, we use up-to-date instrument response functions, and we thoroughly model the effect of instrumental systematic uncertainties in our statistical treatment. We further present results for other potential signatures with sharp spectral features, e.g. box-shaped spectra, that would likewise very clearly point to a particle dark matter origin.more » « less
An official website of the United States government
