Related papers: Can cosmic strangelets reach the earth?
We study the impact of multi-layered clouds (low-level water and high-level ice clouds) on the thermal emission spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting different types of stars. Clouds have an important influence on such planetary emission…
Through a simple physical argument we show that the slant optical depth through the atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" planet is 35-90 times greater than the normal optical depth. This not unexpected result has direct consequences for the method…
We consider the possibility that the particles in the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays arriving to Earth might be neutrons instead of protons. We stress that in such case the argument for the GZK cutoff is weaker and that it is conceivable…
It has recently been pointed out that if the surface tension of quark matter is low enough, the surface of a strange star will be a crust consisting of a crystal of charged strangelets in a neutralizing background of electrons. This affects…
The transport of the nuclear cosmic ray flux in the atmosphere is studied and the atmospheric corrections to be applied to the measurements are calculated. The contribution of the calculated corrections to the accuracy of the experimental…
The existence of cosmic ray particles up to the ultra-high energy limit (> 10^20 eV) is now beyond any doubt. The detection of cosmic particles with such energies imposes a challenge for the comprehension of their sources and nature. On one…
The field of exoplanets is quickly expanding from just the detection of new planets and the measurement of their most basic parameters, such as mass, radius and orbital configuration, to the first measurements of their atmospheric…
A search for stable strange quark nuggets has been conducted in helium and argon using a high sensitivity mass spectrometer. The search was guided by a mass formula for strange quark nuggets which suggested that stable strange helium might…
For many decades vertical winds have been observed at high altitudes of the Earth's atmosphere, in the mesosphere and thermosphere layers. These observations have been used with a simple one dimensional model to make estimates of possible…
Extrasolar super-Earths (1-10 M$_{\earth}$) are likely to exist with a wide range of atmospheres. Some super-Earths may be able to retain massive hydrogen-rich atmospheres. Others might never accumulate hydrogen or experience significant…
Important informations on the origin and the propagation mechanisms of cosmic rays may be provided by the measurement of the anisotropies of their arrival direction. In this paper the observation of anisotropy regions at different angular…
Cosmic ray antiprotons can originate from dark matter annihilating into quarks that subsequently decay into antiprotons. Evaporation of primordial black holes also can produce a significant antiproton flux. Since the spectrum of secondary…
We take a phenomenological approach in a minimal model to understand the spectral intensity of secondary cosmic-ray particles like positrons, antiprotons, Lithium, Beryllium and Boron. Our analysis shows that cosmic rays at $\sim$ GeV…
The quark surface of a strange star has a very low emissivity for X-ray photons. I find that a small amount of normal matter at the quark surface with temperature in the range $10^7\la T_{_S}} \ll mc^2/k\simeq 6\times 10^9$ K is enough to…
A decade ago, the detection of the first transiting extrasolar planet provided a direct constraint on its composition and opened the door to spectroscopic investigations of extrasolar planetary atmospheres. As such characterization studies…
Underground laboratories provide the low radioactive background environment necessary to explore the highest energy scales that cannot be reached with accelerators, by searching for extremely rare phenomena. I have requested to the…
The varied surfaces and atmospheres of planets make them interesting places to live, explore, and study from afar. Unfortunately, the great distance to exoplanets makes it impossible to resolve their disk with current or near-term…
Measurements of the temperature of the baryons at the end of the cosmic dark ages can potentially set very precise constraints on energy injection from exotic sources, such as annihilation or decay of the dark matter. However, additional…
3-flavor quark matter (strange quark matter; SQM) can be stable or metastable for a wide range of strong interaction parameters. If so, SQM can play an important role in cosmology, neutron stars, cosmic ray physics, and relativistic…
Exoplanets with substantial Hydrogen/Helium atmospheres have been discovered in abundance, many residing extremely close to their parent stars. The extreme irradiation levels these atmospheres experience causes them to undergo hydrodynamic…