A more critical look at the initial results: http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2013/04/first-results-of-ams-02.html
There's absolutely no way that measurements of the positron spectrum may give us a reliable evidence for dark matter: not now, and not anytime soon.
The most important thing we learned today is that AMS works and exceeds in precision the previous instruments (which wasn't that obvious: it's the first time a serious experiment is performed on a space station, and besides the mission underwent a dramatic downgrade shortly before the launch).
it's the first time a serious experiment is performed on a space station
Well, if nothing else, at least it's something we can point to and say: "This is something the ISS has done that we could not have done elsewhere!"
Quote from: IRobot on 04/04/2013 11:13 amit's the first time a serious experiment is performed on a space stationWhat the heck is this guy smoking? He's clearly another one of these "I know about science, and so despite the fact that I have done absolutely zero research on ISS science, that makes me qualified to speak about it authoritatively" type people.Like we needed more of those....
Quote from: Space Pete on 04/04/2013 03:45 pmQuote from: IRobot on 04/04/2013 11:13 amit's the first time a serious experiment is performed on a space stationWhat the heck is this guy smoking? He's clearly another one of these "I know about science, and so despite the fact that I have done absolutely zero research on ISS science, that makes me qualified to speak about it authoritatively" type people.Like we needed more of those.... One tip is to actually read the blog-post before you get all wind up "Résonaances is a particle physics blog from Paris. It's about the latest news and gossips in particle physics and astrophysics. The posts are often spiced with sarcasm, irony, and a sick sense of humor. The goal is to make you laugh; if it makes you think too, that's entirely on your own responsibility..."http://resonaances.blogspot.se
Latest update:New AMS results to be presented at ICRC 2013 at Rio de Janeiro, BrasilJuly 5th, 2013 We are all looking forward for the planned release of several new results from the AMS Collaboration at the International Cosmic Ray Conference 2013 in Brasil. On July 8th, during a special ICRC session dedicated to AMS, the Collaboration will present new results on the precision measurement of: proton, helium, electron, positrons and Boron/Carbon as well as the positron to electron ratio. The data correspond to 24 month of data taking, about 31 billions of trigger recorded by the experiment and transferred to ground. Stay tuned on this page for more news.http://www.ams02.org/2013/07/new-ams-results-to-be-presented-at-icrc-2013-at-rio-de-janeiro-brasil/
While hailing Endeavour, ISS, and AMS let's not forget to give some rare credit to the normally ineffectual US Congress which provided the money and specific direction to NASA to launch AMS which NASA had no plans (or capability) to do before the planned retirement of the shuttle.
Highly energetic particles consist of essentially every element ranging from hydrogen, accounting for approximately 89% of the GCR spectrum. The idea that Supernova Remnant (SNR) shocks are the primary sites of CR acceleration in the Galaxy is what is generally referred to as the ”Supernova remnant paradigm for the origin of Cosmic Rays”. This paradigm has been under scrutiny now for about 50 years, but only in the last few years some clear evidence in its favour has been found. [...]AMS provides a continuous stream of time-resolved and multichannel Cosmic Ray data that set new objectives, namely: (i) to advance solar modulation observations of Cosmic Ray particles and antiparticles, and (ii) to develop improved and measurement-validated models of Cosmic Ray transport in the heliosphere.Moreover, the new data allow to understand the puzzling anomalies detected in the energy spectra of CR proton and helium nuclei while also maintaining the universality of the dominant diffusive-shock acceleration mechanism. In this model, the p/He anomaly is explained by a flux transition between two source components that have different injection spectra and composition. Another important topic is the recent observation of an eight-month time lag in solar modulation of Cosmic Rays. This effect reveals important properties on the dynamics of the formation and changing conditions of the heliospheric plasma. Crucial tests can be performed by AMS via monthly-resolved measurements of these ratios, or even better, by measurements of individual particle fluxes for protons, antiprotons, electrons and positrons under both polarity conditions and across the magnetic reversal. This demonstrates that time-dependent measurements on CR antimatter can provide precious information on the physics of the heliosphere. Finally, understanding the charge-sign dependence of Cosmic Ray modulation is also essential to search for dark matter signatures in Cosmic Ray fluxes.