The cosmic positron excess and its possible interpretations

by Dario Grasso (PI)

Tuesday 15 Oct 2013, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Rome

131 (INFN edificio C)

PAMELA, Fermi-LAT and AMS-02 orbital experiments established that the positron fraction (e^+/e^- + e^+) rises with energy above 10 GeV. This is in contrast with the common scenario in which those particles are generated only as secondary products of cosmic ray protons and nuclei collisions with the interstellar gas. Several interpretations of the positron excess have been proposed which invoke, old and new, astrophysical mechanisms or exotic dark matter models.  Without entering into the details of those models, I will discuss what are the main uncertainties involved in this game and which measurements and theoretical analysis may help to solve this puzzle. 

 

Slides positroni_pisa_2013.pdf