Are the AMS-02 antihelium candidate events real? · revision history

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Accepted · first revision · record

Title
Are the AMS-02 antihelium candidate events real?
Plain
The AMS-02 detector team has spoken of a handful of possible antihelium nuclei, which ordinary cosmic-ray collisions should almost never make. The events have not been published in a refereed paper.
Precise
AMS-02 has reported in conference talks a few candidate antihelium-3 and antihelium-4 events, while predicted secondary production gives far less than one antihelium-4 event in the exposure. Decide whether any candidate is a genuine antinucleus rather than a misidentified background, and if so identify its source (dark matter, antimatter domains, or underestimated coalescence production).
Settled by
A refereed AMS-02 analysis with background estimates, or independent detection by a separate experiment such as the GAPS balloon instrument.
Kind
well-posed
Answer type
identification
References
(empty)
Literature status
open
Status note
As of 2026 the candidates remain unpublished in the refereed literature.
Posed since
(empty)