An antimatter spectrometer in space

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 350; no. 1; pp. 351 - 367
• Main Authors: Ahlen, S., Balebanov, V.M., Battiston, R., Becker, U., Burger, J., Capell, M., Chen, H.F., Chen, H.S., Chen, M., Chernoplekov, N., Clare, R., Dai, T.S., De Rujula, A., Fisher, P., Galaktionov, Yu, Gougas, A., Wen-Qi, Gu, He, M., Koutsenko, V., Lebedev, A., Li, T.P., Lu, Y.S., Luckey, D., Ma, Y., McNeil, R., Orava, R., Prevsner, A., Plyaskine, V., Rubinstein, H., Sagdeev, R., Salamon, M., Tang, H.W., Ting, S.C.C., Vetlitsky, I., Wang, Y.F., Ping-Chou, Xia, Xu, Z.Z., Wefel, J.P., Zhang, Z.P., Zhou, B., Zichichi, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.10.1994
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/0168-9002(94)91184-3

We discuss a simple magnetic spectrometer to be installed on a satellite or space station. The purpose of this spectrometer is to search for primordial antimatter to the level of antimatter/matter ≈10 −9, improving the existing limits obtained with balloon flights by a factor of 10 4 to 10 5. The design of the spectrometer is based on an iron-free, NdFeB permanent magnet, scintillation counters, drift tubes, and silicon or time projection chambers. Different design options are discussed. Typically, the spectrometer has a weight of about 2 tons and an acceptance of about 1.0 m 2 sr. The availability of the new NdFeB material makes it possible for the first time to put a magnet into space economically and reliably.