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Abstract

The SLIM experiment at the Chacaltaya high altitude laboratory was sensitive to nuclearites and Q-balls which could be present in the cosmic radiation as possible Dark Matter components. It was sensitive also to strangelets, i.e. small lumps of Strange Quark Matter predicted at such altitudes by various phenomenological models. The analysis of 427 m2 of Nuclear Track Detectors exposed for 4.22 years showed no candidate event. New upper limits on the flux of downgoing nuclearites and Q-balls at the 90% C.L. were established. The null result also restricts models for strangelets propagation through the Earth atmosphere.

Details

Title
Results of the search for strange quark matter and Q-balls with the SLIM experiment
Author
Cecchini, S 1 ; Cozzi, M 2 ; D Di Ferdinando 3 ; Errico, M 2 ; Fabbri, F 3 ; Giacomelli, G 2 ; Giacomelli, R 3 ; Giorgini, M 2 ; Kumar, A 4 ; McDonald, J 5 ; Mandrioli, G 3 ; Manzoor, S 6 ; Margiotta, A 2 ; Medinaceli, E 7 ; Patrizii, L 3 ; Pinfold, J 5 ; Popa, V 8 ; Qureshi, I E 9 ; Saavedra, O 10 ; Sahnoun, Z 11 ; Sirri, G 3 ; Spurio, M 2 ; Togo, V 3 ; Valieri, C 3 ; Velarde, A 12 ; Zanini, A 13 

1  Dip. Fisica dell’Universitá di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; INAF/IASF Sez. Bologna, Bologna, Italy 
2  Dip. Fisica dell’Universitá di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; INFN Sez. Bologna, Bologna, Italy 
3  INFN Sez. Bologna, Bologna, Italy 
4  Dip. Fisica dell’Universitá di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Physics Dept., Sant Longowal Institute of Eng. & Tech., Longowal, India 
5  Centre for Subatomic Research, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 
6  Dip. Fisica dell’Universitá di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; PD, PINSTECH, P.O. Nilore, and COMSATS-CIIT, Islamabad, Pakistan 
7  Dip. Fisica dell’Universitá di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Laboratorio de Física Cósmica de Chacaltaya, UMSA, La Paz, Bolivia 
8  INFN Sez. Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Institute for Space Sciences, Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania 
9  PD, PINSTECH, P.O. Nilore, and COMSATS-CIIT, Islamabad, Pakistan 
10  INFN Sez. Torino, Torino, Italy; Dip. Fisica Sperimentale e Generale, Universitá di Torino, Torino, Italy 
11  Astrophysics Dept., CRAAG, Algiers, Algeria; INFN Sez. Bologna, Bologna, Italy 
12  Laboratorio de Física Cósmica de Chacaltaya, UMSA, La Paz, Bolivia 
13  INFN Sez. Torino, Torino, Italy 
Pages
525-533
Publication year
2008
Publication date
Oct 2008
Publisher
Springer Nature B.V.
ISSN
14346044
e-ISSN
14346052
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-008-0747-7
ProQuest document ID
2293808609
Copyright
The European Physical Journal C is a copyright of Springer, (2008). All Rights Reserved.