1. |
- Aalbers, J., et al.
(författare)
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A next-generation liquid xenon observatory for dark matter and neutrino physics
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 0954-3899 .- 1361-6471. ; 50:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the most pressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the available parameter space for weakly interacting massive particles, while featuring extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates. These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decay and through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-based detector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantly advance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, and cosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.
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2. |
- Aalbers, Jelle, et al.
(författare)
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Solar neutrino detection sensitivity in DARWIN via electron scattering
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We detail the sensitivity of the proposed liquid xenon DARWIN observatory to solar neutrinos via elastic electron scattering. We find that DARWIN will have the potential to measure the fluxes of five solar neutrino components: pp, 7Be, 13N, 15O and pep. The precision of the 13N, 15O and pep components is hindered by the double-beta decay of 136Xe and, thus, would benefit from a depleted target. A high-statistics observation of pp neutrinos would allow us to infer the values of the electroweak mixing angle, sin2 theta w, and the electron-type neutrino survival probability, Pee, in the electron recoil energy region from a few keV up to 200 keV for the first time, with relative precision of 5% and 4%, respectively, with 10 live years of data and a 30 tonne fiducial volume. An observation of pp and 7Be neutrinos would constrain the neutrino-inferred solar luminosity down to 0.2%. A combination of all flux measurements would distinguish between the high- (GS98) and low-metallicity (AGS09) solar models with 2.1-2.5 sigma significance, independent of external measurements from other experiments or a measurement of 8B neutrinos through coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering in DARWIN. Finally, we demonstrate that with a depleted target DARWIN may be sensitive to the neutrino capture process of 131Xe.
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3. |
- Aalbers, Jelle, et al.
(författare)
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The triggerless data acquisition system of the XENONnT experiment
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 18:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENONnT detector uses the latest and largest liquid xenon-based time projection chamber (TPC) operated by the XENON Collaboration, aimed at detecting Weakly Interacting Massive Particles and conducting other rare event searches. The XENONnT data acquisition (DAQ) system constitutes an upgraded and expanded version of the XENON1T DAQ system. For its operation, it relies predominantly on commercially available hardware accompanied by open-source and custom-developed software. The three constituent subsystems of the XENONnT detector, the TPC (main detector), muon veto, and the newly introduced neutron veto, are integrated into a single DAQ, and can be operated both independently and as a unified system. In total, the DAQ digitizes the signals of 698 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), of which 253 from the top PMT array of the TPC are digitized twice, at ×10 and ×0.5 gain. The DAQ for the most part is a triggerless system, reading out and storing every signal that exceeds the digitization thresholds. Custom-developed software is used to process the acquired data, making it available within ∼30 s for live data quality monitoring and online analyses. The entire system with all the three subsystems was successfully commissioned and has been operating continuously, comfortably withstanding readout rates that exceed ∼500 MB/s during calibration. Livetime during normal operation exceeds 99% and is ∼90% during most high-rate calibrations. The combined DAQ system has collected more than 2 PB of both calibration and science data during the commissioning of XENONnT and the first science run.
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4. |
- Antochi, Vasile C., 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Design and performance of the field cage for the XENONnT experiment
- 2024
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 84:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The precision in reconstructing events detected in a dual-phase time projection chamber depends on an homogeneous and well understood electric field within the liquid target. In the XENONnT TPC the field homogeneity is achieved through a double-array field cage, consisting of two nested arrays of field shaping rings connected by an easily accessible resistor chain. Rather than being connected to the gate electrode, the topmost field shaping ring is independently biased, adding a degree of freedom to tune the electric field during operation. Two-dimensional finite element simulations were used to optimize the field cage, as well as its operation. Simulation results were compared to 83mKr calibration data. This comparison indicates an accumulation of charge on the panels of the TPC which is constant over time, as no evolution of the reconstructed position distribution of events is observed. The simulated electric field was then used to correct the charge signal for the field dependence of the charge yield. This correction resolves the inconsistent measurement of the drift electron lifetime when using different calibrations sources and different field cage tuning voltages.
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5. |
- Antochi, Vasile C., et al.
(författare)
-
Improved quality tests of R11410-21 photomultiplier tubes for the XENONnT experiment
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 16:8
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are often used in low-background particle physics experiments, which rely on an excellent response to single-photon signals and stable long-term operation. In particular, the Hamamatsu R11410 model is the light sensor of choice for liquid xenon dark matter experiments, including XENONnT. The same PMT model was also used for the predecessor, XENON1T, where issues affecting its long-term operation were observed. Here, we report on an improved PMT testing procedure which ensures optimal performance in XENONnT. Using both new and upgraded facilities, we tested 368 new PMTs in a cryogenic xenon environment. We developed new tests targeted at the detection of light emission and the degradation of the PMT vacuum through small leaks, which can lead to spurious signals known as afterpulses, both of which were observed in XENON1T. We exclude the use of 26 of the 368 tested PMTs and categorise the remainder according to their performance. Given that we have improved the testing procedure, yet we rejected fewer PMTs, we expect significantly better PMT performance in XENONnT.
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6. |
- Antochi, Vasile C., 1992-, et al.
(författare)
-
Low-energy calibration of XENON1T with an internal 37Ar source
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 83:6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A low-energy electronic recoil calibration of XENON1T, a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber, with an internal 37Ar source was performed. This calibration source features a 35-day half-life and provides two mono-energetic lines at 2.82 keV and 0.27 keV. The photon yield and electron yield at 2.82 keV are measured to be (32.3±0.3) photons/keV and (40.6±0.5) electrons/keV, respectively, in agreement with other measurements and with NEST predictions. The electron yield at 0.27 keV is also measured and it is (68.0+6.3−3.7) electrons/keV. The 37Ar calibration confirms that the detector is well-understood in the energy region close to the detection threshold, with the 2.82 keV line reconstructed at (2.83±0.02) keV, which further validates the model used to interpret the low-energy electronic recoil excess previously reported by XENON1T. The ability to efficiently remove argon with cryogenic distillation after the calibration proves that 37Ar can be considered as a regular calibration source for multi-tonne xenon detectors.
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7. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
An approximate likelihood for nuclear recoil searches with XENON1T data
- 2022
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 82:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The XENON collaboration has published stringent limits on specific dark matter – nucleon recoil spectra from dark matter recoiling on the liquid xenon detector target. In this paper, we present an approximate likelihood for the XENON1T 1 t-year nuclear recoil search applicable to any nuclear recoil spectrum. Alongside this paper, we publish data and code to compute upper limits using the method we present. The approximate likelihood is constructed in bins of reconstructed energy, profiled along the signal expectation in each bin. This approach can be used to compute an approximate likelihood and therefore most statistical results for any nuclear recoil spectrum. Computing approximate results with this method is approximately three orders of magnitude faster than the likelihood used in the original publications of XENON1T, where limits were set for specific families of recoil spectra. Using this same method, we include toy Monte Carlo simulation-derived binwise likelihoods for the upcoming XENONnT experiment that can similarly be used to assess the sensitivity to arbitrary nuclear recoil signatures in its eventual 20 t-year exposure.
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8. |
- Aprile, Elena, et al.
(författare)
-
Analysis of the XENON1T data for WIMP search : Background Models and Statistical Inference
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The XENON1T experiment searches for dark matter recoils within a $2$ tonne liquid xenon target. The detector is operated as a dual-phase time projection chamber, and reconstructs the energy and position of interactions in the active volume. In the central volume of the target mass, the lowest background rate of a xenon-based direct detection experiment so far has been achieved. In this work we describe the detector response modelling, the background and signal models, and the statistical inference procedures used in a search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using 1\,tonne$\times$year exposure of XENON1T data.
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9. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Application and modeling of an online distillation method to reduce krypton and argon in XENON1T
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2050-3911. ; 2022:5
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A novel online distillation technique was developed for the XENON1T dark matter experiment to reduce intrinsic background components more volatile than xenon, such as krypton or argon, while the detector was operating. The method is based on a continuous purification of the gaseous volume of the detector system using the XENON1T cryogenic distillation column. A krypton-in-xenon concentration of (360 +/- 60) ppq was achieved. It is the lowest concentration measured in the fiducial volume of an operating dark matter detector to date. A model was developed and fitted to the data to describe the krypton evolution in the liquid and gas volumes of the detector system for several operation modes over the time span of 550 days, including the commissioning and science runs of XENON1T. The online distillation was also successfully applied to remove Ar-37 after its injection for a low-energy calibration in XENON1T. This makes the usage of Ar-37 as a regular calibration source possible in the future. The online distillation can be applied to next-generation liquid xenon time projection chamber experiments to remove krypton prior to, or during, any science run. The model developed here allows further optimization of the distillation strategy for future large-scale detectors.
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10. |
- 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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11. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Dark Matter Search Results from a One Ton-Year Exposure of XENON1T
- 2018
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 121:11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) using 278.8 days of data collected with the XENON1T experiment at LNGS. XENON1T utilizes a liquid xenon time projection chamber with a fiducial mass of (1.30 +/- 0.01) ton, resulting in a 1.0 ton yr exposure. The energy region of interest, [1.4; 10.6] keV(ee) ([4.9; 40.9] keV(nr)), exhibits an ultralow electron recoil background rate of [82(-3)(+5) (syst) +/- 3 stat)] events/ton yr keV(ee)). No significant excess over background is found, and a profile likelihood analysis parametrized in spatial and energy dimensions excludes new parameter space for the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent elastic scatter cross section for WIMP masses above 6 GeV/c(2), with a minimum of 4.1 x 10(-47) cm(2) at 30 GeV/c(2) and a 90% confidence level.
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12. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Detector signal characterization with a Bayesian network in XENONnT
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 108:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We developed a detector signal characterization model based on a Bayesian network trained on the waveform attributes generated by a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber. By performing inference on the model, we produced a quantitative metric of signal characterization and demonstrate that this metric can be used to determine whether a detector signal is sourced from a scintillation or an ionization process. We describe the method and its performance on electronic-recoil (ER) data taken during the first science run of the XENONnT dark matter experiment. We demonstrate the first use of a Bayesian network in a waveform -based analysis of detector signals. This method resulted in a 3% increase in ER event-selection efficiency with a simultaneously effective rejection of events outside of the region of interest. The findings of this analysis are consistent with the previous analysis from XENONnT, namely a background-only fit of the ER data.
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13. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Effective Field Theory and Inelastic Dark Matter Results from XENON1T
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this work we expand on the XENON1T nuclear recoil searches and study the individual signals of Dark Matter interactions from operators up to dimension-eight in a Chiral Effective Field Theory (ChEFT) as well as a model of inelastic Dark Matter using data from the two science runs of the detector totalling 1 tonne*year exposure. For these analyses we extended the region of interest from [4.9, 40.9]keVnr to [4.9, 54.4]keVnr to enhance our sensitivity for signals that peak at nonzero energies. We show that the data is consistent with a background only hypothesis, with small excesses in the models which peak between 20 and 50keVnr, obtaining a maximum local discovery significance of 1.7 for the VVs ChEFT model for a WIMP mass of 70GeV/c2, and 1.8 for an iDM particle of 50GeV/c2 with a mass splitting of 100keV/c2. For each model we report 90% confidence level upper limits. We also report limits on three benchmark models of WIMP interaction using ChEFT for which we investigate the effect of isospin breaking interactions, reporting up to 6 orders of magnitude weaker limits with respect to the isospin conserving case driven by cancellations in the expected rate.
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14. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Emission of single and few electrons in XENON1T and limits on light dark matter
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 106:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Delayed single- and few-electron emissions plague dual-phase time projection chambers, limiting their potential to search for light-mass dark matter. This paper examines the origins of these events in the XENON1T experiment. Characterization of the intensity of delayed electron backgrounds shows that the resulting emissions are correlated, in time and position, with high-energy events and can effectively be vetoed. In this work we extend previous S2-only analyses down to a single electron. From this analysis, after removing the correlated backgrounds, we observe rates <30 events/(electron×kg×day) in the region of interest spanning 1 to 5 electrons. We derive 90% confidence upper limits for dark matter-electron scattering, first direct limits on the electric dipole, magnetic dipole, and anapole interactions, and bosonic dark matter models, where we exclude new parameter space for dark photons and solar dark photons.
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15. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Energy resolution and linearity of XENON1T in the MeV energy range
- 2020
-
Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:8
-
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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16. |
- 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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17. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
First Dark Matter Search with Nuclear Recoils from the XENONnT Experiment
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 131:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the first search for nuclear recoils from dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with the XENONnT experiment, which is based on a two-phase time projection chamber with a sensitive liquid xenon mass of 5.9 ton. During the (1.09±0.03) ton yr exposure used for this search, the intrinsic 85Kr and 222Rn concentrations in the liquid target are reduced to unprecedentedly low levels, giving an electronic recoil background rate of (15.8±1.3) events/ton yr keV in the region of interest. A blind analysis of nuclear recoil events with energies between 3.3 and 60.5 keV finds no significant excess. This leads to a minimum upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 2.58×10−47 cm2 for a WIMP mass of 28 GeV/c2 at 90% confidence level. Limits for spin-dependent interactions are also provided. Both the limit and the sensitivity for the full range of WIMP masses analyzed here improve on previous results obtained with the XENON1T experiment for the same exposure.
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18. |
- 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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19. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Light Dark Matter Search with Ionization Signals in XENON1T
- 2019
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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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20. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Material radiopurity control in the XENONnT experiment
- 2022
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 82:7
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of the utmost importance for rare-event searches and thus critical to the XENONnT experiment. Results of an extensive radioassay program are reported, in which material samples have been screened with gamma-ray spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and 222Rn emanation measurements. Furthermore, the cleanliness procedures applied to remove or mitigate surface contamination of detector materials are described. Screening results, used as inputs for a XENONnT Monte Carlo simulation, predict a reduction of materials background (∼∼17%) with respect to its predecessor XENON1T. Through radon emanation measurements, the expected 222Rn activity concentration in XENONnT is determined to be 4.2 (+0.5−0.7) μBq/kg, a factor three lower with respect to XENON1T. This radon concentration will be further suppressed by means of the novel radon distillation system.
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21. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 568:7753, s. 532-535
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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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22. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Projected WIMP sensitivity of the XENONnT dark matter experiment
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :11
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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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23. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
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Rn-222 emanation measurements for the XENON1T experiment
- 2021
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 81:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of utmost importance for the success of lowenergy rare event search experiments. Besides radioactive contaminants in the bulk, the emanation of radioactive radon atoms from material surfaces attains increasing relevance in the effort to further reduce the background of such experiments. In this work, we present the 222Rn emanation measurements performed for the XENON1T dark matter experiment. Together with the bulk impurity screening campaign, the results enabled us to select the radio-purest construction materials, targeting a 222Rn activity concentration of 10 mu Bq/kg in 3.2 t of xenon. The knowledge of the distribution of the 222Rn sources allowed us to selectively eliminate problematic components in the course of the experiment. The predictions from the emanation measurements were compared to data of the 222Rn activity concentration in XENON1T. The final 222Rn activity concentration of (4.5 +/- 0.1) mu Bq/kg in the target of XENON1T is the lowest ever achieved in a xenon dark matter experiment.
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24. |
- 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
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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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25. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(författare)
-
Search for events in XENON1T associated with gravitational waves
- 2023
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 108:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We perform a blind search for particle signals in the XENON1T dark matter detector that occur close in time to gravitational-wave signals in the LIGO and Virgo observatories. No particle signal is observed in the nuclear recoil and electronic recoil channels within ±500 seconds of observations of the gravitational-wave signals GW170104, GW170729, GW170817, GW170818, and GW170823. We use this null result to constrain monoenergetic neutrinos and axion-like particles emitted in the closest coalescence GW170817, a binary neutron star merger. We set new upper limits on the fluence (time-integrated flux) of coincident neutrinos down to 17 keV at the 90% confidence level. Furthermore, we constrain the product of the coincident fluence and cross section of axion-like particles to be less than 10−29 cm2/cm2 in the [5.5–210] keV energy range at the 90% confidence level.
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