Production and acceleration of antinuclei in supernova shockwaves

Understand

We compute the energy spectra of antideuterons and antihelium in cosmic rays (CRs) in a scenario where hadronic interactions inside supernova remnants (SNRs) can produce a diffusively-shock-accelerated "source component" of secondary antinuclei.

• The key parameters that specify the SNR environment and the interstellar CR transport are tightly constrained with the new measurements provided by the AMS experiment on the B/C ratio and on the antiproton/proton ratio.
• The best-fit models obtained from the two ratios are found to be inconsistent with each other, as the antiproton/proton data require enhanced secondary production.
• Thus, we derive conservative (i.e., B/C-driven) and speculative (antiproton/proton-driven) upper limits to the SNR flux contributions for the d and He spectra spectra in CRs, along with their standard secondary component expected from CR collisions in the interstellar gas.