报告题目：The General Antiparticle Spectrometer Experiment (GAPS): An Indirect Search for Dark Matter Using Antideuterons

　　报告人：Chuck Hailey（columbia university ）

　　报告摘要：GAPS is a balloonbased experiment that will conduct an indirect search for dark matter (DM). When DM annihilates or decays in the galaxy it produces antiprotons and antideuterons, which can be detected by a balloon-based instrument. Low energy antideuterons are considered a "smoking gun" signature of DM, since it is extremely difficult to make them through conventional astrophysical processes. Thus the antideuteron signature of DM is not confounded by astrophysical background, as is the case with all other indirect DM searches. GAPS detects antiparticles by capturing them into Silicon atoms. The resulting exotic atoms emit X-rays, pions and protons on deexcitation and subsequent annihilation of the nucleus, and this serves as an exceptionally stringent signature of the presence of antiparticles. I will discuss the physics of DM searches, the details of the GAPS concept and instrument design (a 10 plane Silicon tracker geometry), our work on the development of the Lithium-drifted Silicon detectors which are the heart of GAPS, and our schedule for construction and delivery of the experiment. GAPS is planned to launch from Antartica on an long-duration balloon in the winter of 2020.

　　地点：紫台619会议室

　　时间：12月8日星期四上午10:00

欢迎大家积极参加！

　　                                                紫金山天文台学术委员会