The BESS Program and the BESS-Polar Long Duration Antarctic Flights

Details The BESS Program and the BESS-Polar Long Duration Antarctic Flights The BESS Program and the BESS-Polar Long Duration Antarctic Flights

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21347529m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #475.29; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.440

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The BESS (Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer) program uses elementary particle measurements to study the early Universe and provides fundamental data on the spectra of light cosmic-ray elements and isotopes. BESS measures the energy spectra of cosmic-ray antiprotons to investigate signatures of possible exotic sources, and searches for heavier antinuclei. The BESS collaboration carried out nine conventional northern latitude flights between 1993 and 2002, confirming that the majority of cosmic-ray antiprotons are secondary products of the interactions of primary cosmic-ray nuclei. Flights near Solar minimum in 1995 and 1997, however, observed low-energy antiproton flux slightly in excess of purely secondary expectations, suggesting a possible contribution from an exotic primary source. The BESS-Polar instrument was developed for long-duration balloon flights in Antarctica to continue this investigation with much greater sensitivity. BESS-Polar I flew for 8.5 days in 2004, at a transient period prior to Solar minimum. BESS-Polar II recorded data with the magnet energized for 24.5 days in 2007-2008, flying at Solar minimum when the sensitivity of the antiproton measurements to a primary component is greatest. BESS-Polar II measured the energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons with 10-20; times higher statistics than obtained at the previous Solar minimum and increased the sensitivity of the search for cosmic antimatter by approximately a factor of 3. The BESS program and the status of the BESS-Polar II data analysis will be reviewed.

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