Antimatter Rain

Antimatter in the form of positrons, the antimatter cousin of the electron, is pummeling the Earth and scientists are having trouble discovering where it's coming from.

How were these antimatter particles discovered?

These antimatter particles were found by the HAWC (High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory) detector. This is an array of 300 huge water tanks sitting in Mexico (Puebia) near the edge of the Sierra Negra volcano that can detect high-energy particles moving faster than the speed of light (Cherenkov radiation). This new kind of telescope sits 4,000 meters (13,500 feet) above sea level and it enables scientists to detect particles coming from space. This is yet another telescope array trying to discover the particle associated with dark matter. What happens is that particles collide with water to create a flash of blue light, which can be detected by using very sensitive PMT's (Photomultiplier tubes) connected to very complicated electronics.

Where are these antimatter particles coming from?

Scientists believe that positrons are produced when nearby pulsars (neutron stars that spin fast) shoot powerful beams of gamma rays into Earth's upper atmosphere and create positrons (acting like a giant particle accelerator), which rain down and are detected by the HAWC telescope array. Two possible pulsar sources are Geminga and PSR B0565+14.
The reason that scientists are questioning this observation is that the number of positrons detected is too high to be explained by pulsars, which led to the idea that this might be the result of the decay of elusive dark matter particles. If the observation is the result of dark matter particles it would be a tremendous discovery.

Another explanation for this effect could be a supernova remnant. Supernovae also produced powerful beams of gamma rays.

What's needed is a more thorough examination of the data to determine its true source.

My take on this is to see something different. The idea that powerful gamma ray bursts can produce antimatter should suggest that this would be a way to create sizable amounts of antimatter. I get this gut feeling that the military already knows this.

Thanks for reading.