The legacy of PAMELA

Abstract

Abstract PAMELA, a medium-sized experiment for the detection of cosmic rays, took data in space from 2006 to 2016. Composed of a magnetic spectrometer and several auxiliary detectors, the instrument compensated the reduced dimensions with the high performance of the individual detectors to obtain high-precision measurements over a range of energy from tens of MeV/n to 1\u202fTeV/n. In ten years of operation PAMELA revealed very interesting features in cosmic rays, namely in the fluxes of protons, helium, electrons, that might change our basic vision of the mechanisms of production, acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. Amazing and stimulating have been the measurements of cosmic antiproton and positron fluxes that have allowed the nature of dark matter to be probed in a new way, suggesting new ideas and setting strong constraints to the models. The constant monitoring of the solar activity and the detailed study of the solar modulation of cosmic rays for a long period have boosted important improvements to the comprehension of the heliosphere mechanisms. PAMELA also measured the radiation environment around the Earth and discovered an antiproton radiation belt.