Search for massive rare particles with the SLIM experiment

Balestra, S.; Cecchini, S.; Fabbri, F.; Giacomelli, G.; Kumar, A.; Manzoor, S.; McDonald, J.; Medinaceli, E.; Nogales, J.; Patrizii, L.; Pinfold, J.; Popa, V.; Qureshi, I.; Saavedra, O.; Sher, G.; Shahzad, M.; Spurio, M.; Ticona, R.; Togo, V.; Velarde, A.; Zanini, A.

Search for massive rare particles with the SLIM experiment

Authors

Description

The search for magnetic monopoles in the cosmic radiation remains one of the main aims of non-accelerator particle astrophysics. Experiments at high altitude allow lower mass thresholds with respect to detectors at sea level or underground. The SLIM experiment is a large array of nuclear track detectors at the Chacaltaya High Altitude Laboratory (5290 m a.s.l.). The results from the analysis of 171 m$^2$ exposed for more than 3.5 y are here reported. The completion of the analysis of the whole detector will allow to set the lowest flux upper limit for Magnetic Monopoles in the mass range 10$^5$ - 10$^{12}$ GeV. The experiment is also sensitive to SQM nuggets and Q-balls, which are possible Dark Matter candidates.
Presented at the 29-th ICRC, Pune, India (2005)