| 1. |
- Heywood, I., et al.
(författare)
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Inflation of 430-parsec bipolar radio bubbles in the Galactic Centre by an energetic event
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 573:7773, s. 235-237
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Galactic Centre contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of four million Suns1 within an environment that differs markedly from that of the Galactic disk. Although the black hole is essentially quiescent in the broader context of active galactic nuclei, X-ray observations have provided evidence for energetic outbursts from its surroundings2. Also, although the levels of star formation in the Galactic Centre have been approximately constant over the past few hundred million years, there is evidence of increased short-duration bursts3, strongly influenced by the interaction of the black hole with the enhanced gas density present within the ring-like central molecular zone4 at Galactic longitude |l| < 0.7 degrees and latitude |b| < 0.2 degrees. The inner 200-parsec region is characterized by large amounts of warm molecular gas5, a high cosmic-ray ionization rate6, unusual gas chemistry, enhanced synchrotron emission7,8, and a multitude of radio-emitting magnetized filaments9, the origin of which has not been established. Here we report radio imaging that reveals a bipolar bubble structure, with an overall span of 1 degree by 3 degrees (140 parsecs × 430 parsecs), extending above and below the Galactic plane and apparently associated with the Galactic Centre. The structure is edge-brightened and bounded, with symmetry implying creation by an energetic event in the Galactic Centre. We estimate the age of the bubbles to be a few million years, with a total energy of 7 × 1052 ergs. We postulate that the progenitor event was a major contributor to the increased cosmic-ray density in the Galactic Centre, and is in turn the principal source of the relativistic particles required to power the synchrotron emission of the radio filaments within and in the vicinity of the bubble cavities.
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| 2. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Search for Coherent Elastic Scattering of Solar B-8 Neutrinos in the XENON1T Dark Matter Experiment
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 126:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on a search for nuclear recoil signals from solar B-8 neutrinos elastically scattering off xenon nuclei in XENON1T data, lowering the energy threshold from 2.6 to 1.6 keV. We develop a variety of novel techniques to limit the resulting increase in backgrounds near the threshold. No significant B-8 neutrinolike excess is found in an exposure of 0.6 t x y. For the first time, we use the nondetection of solar neutrinos to constrain the light yield from 1-2 keV nuclear recoils in liquid xenon, as well as nonstandard neutrino-quark interactions. Finally, we improve upon world-leading constraints on dark matter-nucleus interactions for dark matter masses between 3 and 11 GeV c(-2) by as much as an order of magnitude.
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| 3. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for inelastic scattering of WIMP dark matter in XENON1T
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 103:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the results of a search for the inelastic scattering of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the XENON1T dark matter experiment. Scattering off Xe-129 is the most sensitive probe of inelastic WIMP interactions, with a signature of a 39.6 keV deexcitation photon detected simultaneously with the nuclear recoil. Using an exposure of 0.83 tonne-years, we find no evidence of inelastic WIMP scattering with a significance of more than 2 sigma. A profile-likelihood ratio analysis is used to set upper limits on the cross section of WIMP-nucleus interactions. We exclude new parameter space for WIMPs heavier than 100 GeV/c(2), with the strongest upper limit of 3.3 x 10(-39) cm(2) for 130 GeV/c(2) WIMPs at 90% confidence level.
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| 4. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Energy resolution and linearity of XENON1T in the MeV energy range
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Xenon dual-phase time projection chambers designed to search for weakly interacting massive particles have so far shown a relative energy resolutionwhich degrades with energy above similar to 200 keV due to the saturation effects. This has limited their sensitivity in the search for rare events like the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Xe-136 at its Q value, Q(beta beta) similar or equal to 2.46 MeV. For the XENON1T dual-phase time projection chamber, we demonstrate that the relative energy resolution at 1 sigma/mu is as low as (0.80 +/- 0.02)% in its one-ton fiducial mass, and for single-site interactions at Q(beta beta). We also present a new signal correction method to rectify the saturation effects of the signal readout system, resulting in more accurate position reconstruction and indirectly improving the energy resolution. The very good result achieved in XENON1T opens up new windows for the xenon dual-phase dark matter detectors to simultaneously search for other rare events.
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| 5. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
First Dark Matter Search Results from the XENON1T Experiment
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 119:18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the first dark matter search results from XENON1T, a similar to 2000-kg-target-mass dual-phase (liquid-gas) xenon time projection chamber in operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy and the first ton-scale detector of this kind. The blinded search used 34.2 live days of data acquired between November 2016 and January 2017. Inside the (1042 +/- 12)-kg fiducial mass and in the [5, 40] keV(nr) energy range of interest for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches, the electronic recoil background was (1.93 +/- 0.25) x 10(-4) events/(kg x day x keV(ee)), the lowest ever achieved in such a dark matter detector. A profile likelihood analysis shows that the data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis. We derive the most stringent exclusion limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section for WIMP masses above 10 GeV/c(2), with a minimum of 7.7 x 10(-47) cm(2) for 35-GeV/c(2) WIMPs at 90% C.L.
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| 6. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Physics reach of the XENON1T dark matter experiment
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON1T experiment is currently in the commissioning phase at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. In this article we study the experiment's expected sensitivity to the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section, based on Monte Carlo predictions of the electronic and nuclear recoil backgrounds. The total electronic recoil background in 1 tonne fiducial volume and (1, 12) keV electronic recoil equivalent energy region, before applying any selection to discriminate between electronic and nuclear recoils, is (1.80+/-0.15) . 10(-4) (kg.day.keV)(-1), mainly due to the decay of Rn-222 daughters inside the xenon target. The nuclear recoil background in the corresponding nuclear recoil equivalent energy region (4, 50) keV, is composed of (0.6 +/- 0.1) (t.y)(-1) from radiogenic neutrons, (1.8+/-0.3) . 10(-2) (t.y)(-1) from coherent scattering of neutrinos, and less than 0.01 (t.y)(-1) from muon-induced neutrons. The sensitivity of XENON1T is calculated with the Pro file Likelihood Ratio method, after converting the deposited energy of electronic and nuclear recoils into the scintillation and ionization signals seen in the detector. We take into account the systematic uncertainties on the photon and electron emission model, and on the estimation of the backgrounds, treated as nuisance parameters. The main contribution comes from the relative scintillation efficiency L-eff, which affects both the signal from WIMPs and the nuclear recoil backgrounds. After a 2 y measurement in 1 tonne fiducial volume, the sensitivity reaches a minimum cross section of 1.6 . 10(-47) cm(2) at m(chi) = 50 GeV/c(2).
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| 7. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
The XENON1T dark matter experiment
- 2017
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON1T experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) is the first WIMP dark matter detector operating with a liquid xenon target mass above the ton-scale. Out of its 3.2t liquid xenon inventory, 2.0t constitute the active target of the dual-phase time projection chamber. The scintillation and ionization signals from particle interactions are detected with low-background photomultipliers. This article describes the XENON1T instrument and its subsystems as well as strategies to achieve an unprecedented low background level. First results on the detector response and the performance of the subsystems are also presented.
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| 8. |
- Camilo, F., et al.
(författare)
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Revival of the Magnetar PSR J1622-4950: Observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 856:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100 larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800 larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111 19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.
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| 9. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Constraining the Spin-Dependent WIMP-Nucleon Cross Sections with XENON1T
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 122:14
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the first experimental results on spin-dependent elastic weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) nucleon scattering from the XENON1T dark matter search experiment. The analysis uses the full ton year exposure of XENON1T to constrain the spin-dependent proton-only and neutron-only cases. No significant signal excess is observed, and a profile likelihood ratio analysis is used to set exclusion limits on the WIMP-nucleon interactions. This includes the most stringent constraint to date on the WIMP-neutron cross section, with a minimum of 6.3 x 10(-42) cm(2) at 30 GeV/c(2) and 90% confidence level. The results are compared with those from collider searches and used to exclude new parameter space in an isoscalar theory with an axial-vector mediator.
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| 10. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Effective field theory search for high-energy nuclear recoils using the XENON100 dark matter detector
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 96:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) search results in the XENON100 detector using a nonrelativistic effective field theory approach. The data from science run II (34 kg x 224.6 live days) were reanalyzed, with an increased recoil energy interval compared to previous analyses, ranging from (6.6-240) keV(nr). The data are found to be compatible with the background-only hypothesis. We present 90% confidence level exclusion limits on the coupling constants of WIMP-nucleon effective operators using a binned profile likelihood method. We also consider the case of inelastic WIMP scattering, where incident WIMPs may up-scatter to a higher mass state, and set exclusion limits on this model as well.
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| 11. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Excess electronic recoil events in XENON1T
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 102:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report results from searches for new physics with low-energy electronic recoil data recorded with the XENONIT detector. With an exposure of 0.65 tonne-years and an unprecedentedly low background rate of 76 +/- 2(stat) events/(tonne x year x keV) between 1 and 30 keV, the data enable one of the most sensitive searches for solar axions, an enhanced neutrino magnetic moment using solar neutrinos, and bosonic dark matter. An excess over known backgrounds is observed at low energies and most prominent between 2 and 3 keV. The solar axion model has a 3.4 sigma significance, and a three-dimensional 90% confidence surface is reported for axion couplings to electrons, photons, and nucleons. This surface is inscribed in the cuboid defined by g(ae) < 3.8 x 10(-12), g(ae)g(an)(eff) < 4.8 x 10(-18), and g(ae)g(a gamma) < 7.7 x 10(-22) GeV-1, and excludes either g(ae) = 0 or g(ae)g(a gamma) = g(ae)ge(an)(eff), = 0. The neutrino magnetic moment signal is similarly favored over background at 3.2 sigma, and a confidence interval of mu(nu) is an element of (1.4, 2.9) x 10(-11) mu(B) (90% C.L.) is reported. Both results are in strong tension with stellar constraints. The excess can also be explained by beta decays of tritium at 3.2 sigma significance with a corresponding tritium concentration in xenon of (6.2 +/- 2.0) x 10(-25) mol/mol. Such a trace amount can neither be confirmed nor excluded with current knowledge of its production and reduction mechanisms. The significances of the solar axion and neutrino magnetic moment hypotheses arc decreased to 2.0 sigma and 0.9 sigma, respectively, if an unconstrained tritium component is included in the fitting. With respect to bosonic dark matter, the excess favors a monoenergetic peak at (2.3 +/- 0.2) keV (68% C.L.) with a 3.0 sigma global (4.0 sigma local) significance over background. This analysis sets the most restrictive direct constraints to date on pseudoscalar and vector bosonic dark matter for most masses between 1 and 210 keV/c(2). We also consider the possibility that Ar-37 may be present in the detector, yielding a 2.82 keV peak from electron capture. Contrary to tritium, the Ar-37 concentration can be tightly constrained and is found to be negligible.
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| 12. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
First Results on the Scalar WIMP-Pion Coupling, Using the XENON1T Experiment
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 122:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present first results on the scalar coupling of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) to pions from 1 t yr of exposure with the XENON1T experiment. This interaction is generated when the WIMP couples to a virtual pion exchanged between the nucleons in a nucleus. In contrast to most nonrelativistic operators, these pion-exchange currents can be coherently enhanced by the total number of nucleons and therefore may dominate in scenarios where spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interactions are suppressed. Moreover, for natural values of the couplings, they dominate over the spin-dependent channel due to their coherence in the nucleus. Using the signal model of this new WIMP-pion channel, no significant excess is found, leading to an upper limit cross section of 6.4 x 10(-46) cm(2) (90% confidence level) at 30 GeV/c(2) WIMP mass.
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| 13. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Light Dark Matter Search with Ionization Signals in XENON1T
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 123:25
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report constraints on light dark matter (DM) models using ionization signals in the XENON1T experiment. We mitigate backgrounds with strong event selections, rather than requiring a scintillation signal, leaving an effective exposure of (22 +/- 3) tonne day. Above similar to 0.4 keV(ee), we observe <1 event/(tonne day keV(ee)), which is more than 1000 times lower than in similar searches with other detectors. Despite observing a higher rate at lower energies, no DM or CEvNS detection may be claimed because we cannot model all of our backgrounds. We thus exclude new regions in the parameter spaces for DM-nucleus scattering for DM masses m(chi) within 3-6 GeV/c(2), DM-electron scattering for m(chi) > 30 MeV/c(2), and absorption of dark photons and axionlike particles for m(chi) within 0.186-1 keV/c(2).
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| 14. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Material radioassay and selection for the XENON1T dark matter experiment
- 2017
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:12
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON1T dark matter experiment aims to detect weakly interactingmassive particles (WIMPs) through low-energy interactions with xenon atoms. To detect such a rare event necessitates the use of radiopure materials to minimize the number of background events within the expected WIMP signal region. In this paper we report the results of an extensive material radioassay campaign for the XENON1T experiment. Using gamma-ray spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques, systematic measurements of trace radioactive impurities in over one hundred samples within a wide range of materials were performed. The measured activities allowed for stringent selection and placement of materials during the detector construction phase and provided the input for XENON1T detection sensitivity estimates through Monte Carlo simulations.
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| 15. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 568:7753, s. 532-535
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two-neutrino double electron capture (2νECEC) is a second-order weak-interaction process with a predicted half-life that surpasses the age of the Universe by many orders of magnitude. Until now, indications of 2νECEC decays have only been seen for two isotopes, 78Kr and 130Ba, and instruments with very low background levels are needed to detect them directly with high statistical significance. The 2νECEC half-life is an important observable for nuclear structure models and its measurement represents a meaningful step in the search for neutrinoless double electron capture—the detection of which would establish the Majorana nature of the neutrino and would give access to the absolute neutrino mass. Here we report the direct observation of 2νECEC in 124Xe with the XENON1T dark-matter detector. The significance of the signal is 4.4 standard deviations and the corresponding half-life of 1.8 × 1022 years (statistical uncertainty, 0.5 × 1022 years; systematic uncertainty, 0.1 × 1022 years) is the longest measured directly so far. This study demonstrates that the low background and large target mass of xenon-based dark-matter detectors make them well suited for measuring rare processes and highlights the broad physics reach of larger next-generation experiments.
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| 16. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Online Rn-222 removal by cryogenic distillation in the XENON100 experiment
- 2017
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe the purification of xenon from traces of the radioactive noble gas radon using a cryogenic distillation column. The distillation column was integrated into the gas purification loop of the XENON100 detector for online radon removal. This enabled us to significantly reduce the constant Rn-222 background originating from radon emanation. After inserting an auxiliary 222Rn emanation source in the gas loop, we determined a radon reduction factor of R > 27 (95% C.L.) for the distillation column by monitoring the Rn-222 activity concentration inside the XENON100 detector.
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| 17. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Projected WIMP sensitivity of the XENONnT dark matter experiment
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- XENONnT is a dark matter direct detection experiment, utilizing 5.9 t of instrumented liquid xenon, located at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. In this work, we predict the experimental background and project the sensitivity of XENONnT to the detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The expected average differential background rate in the energy region of interest, corresponding to (1, 13) keV and (4, 50) keV for electronic and nuclear recoils, amounts to 12.3 +/- 0.6 (keV t y)(-1) and (2.2 +/- 0.5) x 10(-3 )(keV t y)(-1), respectively, in a 4t fiducial mass. We compute unified confidence intervals using the profile construction method, in order to ensure proper coverage. With the exposure goal of 20 t y, the expected sensitivity to spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interactions reaches a cross-section of 1.4 x 10(-48) cm(2) for a 50 GeV/c(2) mass WIMP at 90% confidence level, more than one order of magnitude beyond the current best limit, set by XENON1T. In addition, we show that for a 50 GeV/c(2) WIMP with cross-sections above 2.6 x 10(-48) cm(2) (5.0 x 10(-48) cm(2)) the median XENONnT discovery significance exceeds 3 sigma (5 sigma). The expected sensitivity to the spin-dependent WIMP coupling to neutrons (protons) reaches 2.2 x 10(-43) cm(2) (6.0 x 10(-42) cm(2)).
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| 18. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Removing krypton from xenon by cryogenic distillation to the ppq level
- 2017
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON1T experiment aims for the direct detection of dark matter in a detector filled with 3.3 tons of liquid xenon. In order to achieve the desired sensitivity, the background induced by radioactive decays inside the detector has to be sufficiently low. One major contributor is the beta-emitter Kr-85 which is present in the xenon. For XENON1T a concentration of natural krypton in xenon Kr-nat/Xe < 200 ppq (parts per quadrillion, 1 ppq = 10(-15) mol/mol) is required. In this work, the design, construction and test of a novel cryogenic distillation column using the common McCabe-Thiele approach is described. The system demonstrated a krypton reduction factor of 6.4 . 10(5) with thermodynamic stability at process speeds above 3 kg/h. The resulting concentration of natKr/Xe < 26 ppq is the lowest ever achieved, almost one order of magnitude below the requirements for XENON1T and even sufficient for future dark matter experiments using liquid xenon, such as XENONnT and DARWIN.
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| 19. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Results from a calibration of XENON100 using a source of dissolved radon-220
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 95:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A Rn-220 source is deployed on the XENON100 dark matter detector in order to address the challenges in calibration of tonne-scale liquid noble element detectors. We show that the Pb-212 beta emission can be used for low-energy electronic recoil calibration in searches for dark matter. The isotope spreads throughout the entire active region of the detector, and its activity naturally decays below background level within a week after the source is closed. We find no increase in the activity of the troublesome Rn-222 background after calibration. Alpha emitters are also distributed throughout the detector and facilitate calibration of its response to Rn-222. Using the delayed coincidence of Rn-220-Po-216, we map for the first time the convective motion of particles in the XENON100 detector. Additionally, we make a competitive measurement of the half-life of Po-212, t(1/2) = (293.9 +/- (1.0)(stat) +/- (0.6)(sys)) ns.
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| 20. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Search for Light Dark Matter Interactions Enhanced by the Migdal Effect or Bremsstrahlung in XENON1T
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 123:24
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Direct dark matter detection experiments based on a liquid xenon target are leading the search for dark matter particles with masses above similar to 5 GeV/c(2), but have limited sensitivity to lighter masses because of the small momentum transfer in dark matter-nucleus elastic scattering. However, there is an irreducible contribution from inelastic processes accompanying the elastic scattering, which leads to the excitation and ionization of the recoiling atom (the Migdal effect) or the emission of a bremsstrahlung photon. In this Letter, we report on a probe of low-mass dark matter with masses down to about 85 MeV/c(2) by looking for electronic recoils induced by the Migdal effect and bremsstrahlung using data from the XENON1T experiment. Besides the approach of detecting both scintillation and ionization signals, we exploit an approach that uses ionization signals only, which allows for a lower detection threshold. This analysis significantly enhances the sensitivity of XENON1T to light dark matter previously beyond its reach.
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| 21. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for two-neutrino double electron capture of Xe-124 with XENON100
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Physical Review C. - 2469-9985. ; 95:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For Xe-124 this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K shell of 124Xe using 7636 kg d of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading to a lower 90% credibility limit on the half-life T-1/2 > 6.5 x 10(20) yr. We have also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is currently being commissioned, and found a sensitivity of T-1/2 > 6.1 x 10(22) yr after an exposure of 2 t yr.
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| 22. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for WIMP inelastic scattering off xenon nuclei with XENON100
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 96:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first constraints on the spin-dependent, inelastic scattering cross section of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) on nucleons from XENON100 data with an exposure of 7.64 x 10(3) kg . days. XENON100 is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with 62 kg of active mass, operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy and designed to search for nuclear recoils from WIMP-nucleus interactions. Here we explore inelastic scattering, where a transition to a low-lying excited nuclear state of Xe-129 is induced. The experimental signature is a nuclear recoil observed together with the prompt deexcitation photon. We see no evidence for such inelastic WIMP-Xe-129 interactions. A profile likelihood analysis allows us to set a 90% C.L. upper limit on the inelastic, spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 3.3 x 10(-38) cm(2) at 100 GeV/c(2). This is the most constraining result to date, and sets the pathway for an analysis of this interaction channel in upcoming, larger dual-phase xenon detectors.
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| 23. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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The XENON1T data acquisition system
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 14
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON1T liquid xenon time projection chamber is the most sensitive detector built to date for the measurement of direct interactions of weakly interacting massive particles with normal matter. The data acquisition system (DAQ) is constructed from commercial, open source, and custom components to digitize signals from the detector and store them for later analysis. The system achieves an extremely low signal threshold by triggering each channel independently, achieving a single photoelectron acceptance of (93 +/- 3)%, and deferring the global trigger to a later, software stage. The event identification is based on MongoDB database queries and has over 98% efficiency at recognizing interactions at the analysis threshold in the center of the target. A readout bandwidth over 300 MB/s is reached in calibration modes and is further expandable via parallelization. This DAQ system was successfully used during three years of operation of XENON1T.
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| 24. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
XENON100 dark matter results from a combination of 477 live days
- 2016
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 94:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on WIMP search results of the XENON100 experiment, combining three runs summing up to 477 live days from January 2010 to January 2014. Data from the first two runs were already published. A blind analysis was applied to the last run recorded between April 2013 and January 2014 prior to combining the results. The ultralow electromagnetic background of the experiment, similar to 5 x 10(-3) events/(keV(ee) x kg x day)) before electronic recoil rejection, together with the increased exposure of 48 kg x yr, improves the sensitivity. A profile likelihood analysis using an energy range of (6.6-43.3) keV(nr) sets a limit on the elastic, spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section for WIMP masses above 8 GeV/c(2), with a minimum of 1.1 x 10(-45) cm(2) at 50 GeV/c(2) and 90% confidence level. We also report updated constraints on the elastic, spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections obtained with the same data. We set upper limits on the WIMP-neutron (proton) cross section with a minimum of 2.0 x 10(-40) cm(2) (52 x 10(-40) cm(2)) at a WIMP mass of 50 GeV/c(2), at 90% confidence level.
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| 25. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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XENON1T dark matter data analysis : Signal and background models and statistical inference
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 99:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON1T experiment searches for dark matter particles through their scattering off xenon atoms in a 2 metric ton liquid xenon target. The detector is a dual-phase time projection chamber, which measures simultaneously the scintillation and ionization signals produced by interactions in target volume, to reconstruct energy and position, as well as the type of the interaction. The background rate in the central volume of XENON1T detector is the lowest achieved so far with a liquid xenon-based direct detection experiment. In this work we describe the response model of the detector, the background and signal models, and the statistical inference procedures used in the dark matter searches with a 1 metric ton x year exposure of XENON1T data, that leads to the best limit to date on WIMP-nucleon spin-independent elastic scatter cross section for WIMP masses above 6 GeV/c(2).
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