Cosmic-ray strangelets in the Earth’s atmosphere
نویسنده
چکیده
If strange quark matter is stable in small lumps, we expect to find such lumps, called “strangelets”, on Earth due to a steady flux in cosmic rays. Based on recent model predictions for this flux, we find that strangelets corresponding to gaseous elements (noble gases, N, and O) accumulate in the atmosphere at high concentration. Metallic and semimetallic strangelets accumulate in suprisingly high concentrations in stratospheric aerosols. We suggest several new avenues for a mass spectroscopic search for strangelets in the atmosphere.
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