München 2009 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 99: Kosmische Strahlung 7

T 99.2: Talk

Friday, March 13, 2009, 14:15–14:30, M118

AMS-02 - Astroparticle Physics in Space — •Mark Millinger — Physikalisches Institut 1b, RWTH Aachen University, Deutschland

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a space-based particle detector developed to precisely measure the spectra of cosmic rays in the GeV-TeV range. These spectra provide input for current fields of research in Astroparticle Physics like constraints on cosmological parameters, the nature of Dark Matter and the existence of antimatter in the universe.

Several theories describing Dark Matter predict a rise in the cosmic positron flux with respect to the Standard Model expectation in the sensitive energy range of AMS-02. The shape of this additional flux is strongly depending on the theoretical model. Hence a precise flux measurement is needed to distinguish between these models and to reveal the nature of Dark Matter.

In 2008 the AMS-02 detector was successfully pre-assembled at CERN. During this period the data acquisition system and reconstruction algorithms were tested with cosmics data. In the beginning of 2009 the complete detector will undergo a Thermal Vaccuum Test to investigate its behaviour in orbital conditions. Afterwards it will be shipped to Kennedy Space Center. AMS-02 is scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station in 2010.

This talk aims to give an overview of the AMS-02 detector and its subdetectors. Additionally the detector performance is estimated by Monte Carlo simulations and compared to available cosmics data.