A new evaluation of the antiproton production cross-section for cosmic ray studies

International audienceTheoretical predictions for the cosmic antiproton spectrum currently fallshort of the corresponding experimental level of accuracy. Among the mainsources of uncertainty are the antiproton production cross sections in cosmicray inelastic interactions. We analyse existing data on antiproton productionin $pp$ scattering, including for the first time the measurements performed bythe NA49 Collaboration. We compute the antiproton spectrum finding that in theenergy range where data are available (antiproton energies of about 4-550 GeV)different approaches lead to almost equivalent results, with an uncertainty of10-20\%. Extrapolations outside this region lead to different estimates, withthe uncertainties reaching the 50\% level around $1$ TeV, degrading thediagnostic power of the antiproton channel at those energies. We also commenton the uncertainties in the antiproton production source term coming fromnuclei heavier than protons and from neutrons produced in $pp$ scatterings, andpoint out the need for dedicated experimental campaigns for all processesinvolving antiproton production in collisions of light nuclei