| 1. |
- Aalbers, Jelle, et al.
(author)
-
Solar neutrino detection sensitivity in DARWIN via electron scattering
- 2020
-
In: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:12
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 2. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
An approximate likelihood for nuclear recoil searches with XENON1T data
- 2022
-
In: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 82:11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 3. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Application and modeling of an online distillation method to reduce krypton and argon in XENON1T
- 2022
-
In: Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2050-3911. ; 2022:5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 4. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Constraining the Spin-Dependent WIMP-Nucleon Cross Sections with XENON1T
- 2019
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 122:14
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 5. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Dark Matter Search Results from a One Ton-Year Exposure of XENON1T
- 2018
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 121:11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 6. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Double-weak decays of 124Xe and 136Xe in the XENON1T and XENONnT experiments
- 2022
-
In: Physical Review C. - 2469-9985 .- 2469-9993. ; 106:2
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present results on the search for two-neutrino double-electron capture (2νECEC) of 124Xe and neutrinoless double-β decay (0νββ) of 136Xe in XENON1T. We consider captures from the K shell up to the N shell in the 2νECEC signal model and measure a total half-life of T2νECEC1/2=(1.1±0.2stat±0.1sys)×1022yr with a 0.87 kg yr isotope exposure. The statistical significance of the signal is 7.0σ. We use XENON1T data with 36.16 kg yr of 136Xe exposure to search for 0νββ. We find no evidence of a signal and set a lower limit on the half-life of T0νββ1/2>1.2×1024 yr at 90%CL. This is the best result from a dark matter detector without an enriched target to date. We also report projections on the sensitivity of XENONnT to 0νββ. Assuming a 275 kg yr 136Xe exposure, the expected sensitivity is T0νββ1/2>2.1×1025 yr at 90%CL, corresponding to an effective Majorana mass range of ⟨mββ⟩<(0.19–0.59)eV/c2.
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| 7. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Energy resolution and linearity of XENON1T in the MeV energy range
- 2020
-
In: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 80:8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 8. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Excess electronic recoil events in XENON1T
- 2020
-
In: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 102:7
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 9. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
First Results on the Scalar WIMP-Pion Coupling, Using the XENON1T Experiment
- 2019
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 122:7
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 10. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Light Dark Matter Search with Ionization Signals in XENON1T
- 2019
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 123:25
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 11. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Material radiopurity control in the XENONnT experiment
- 2022
-
In: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 82:7
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 12. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T
- 2019
-
In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 568:7753, s. 532-535
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 13. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Physics reach of the XENON1T dark matter experiment
- 2016
-
In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 14. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Projected WIMP sensitivity of the XENONnT dark matter experiment
- 2020
-
In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 15. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Search for Light Dark Matter Interactions Enhanced by the Migdal Effect or Bremsstrahlung in XENON1T
- 2019
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 123:24
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 16. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Search for New Physics in Electronic Recoil Data from XENONnT
- 2022
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - : American Physical Society. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 129:16
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on a blinded analysis of low-energy electronic recoil data from the first science run of the XENONnT dark matter experiment. Novel subsystems and the increased 5.9 ton liquid xenon target reduced the background in the (1, 30) keV search region to (15.8±1.3) events/(ton×year×keV), the lowest ever achieved in a dark matter detector and ∼5 times lower than in XENON1T. With an exposure of 1.16 ton-years, we observe no excess above background and set stringent new limits on solar axions, an enhanced neutrino magnetic moment, and bosonic dark matter.
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| 17. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
The XENON1T data acquisition system
- 2019
-
In: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 14
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 18. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
XENON1T dark matter data analysis : Signal and background models and statistical inference
- 2019
-
In: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 99:11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 19. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
XENON1T dark matter data analysis : Signal reconstruction, calibration, and event selection
- 2019
-
In: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 100:5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The XENON1T experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso is the most sensitive direct detection experiment for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting particles (WIMPs) with masses above 6 GeV/c(2) scattering off nuclei. The detector employs a dual-phase time projection chamber with 2.0 metric tons of liquid xenon in the target. A one metric ton x year exposure of science data was collected between October 2016 and February 2018. This article reports on the performance of the detector during this period and describes details of the data analysis that led to the most stringent exclusion limits on various WIMP-nucleon interaction models to date. In particular, signal reconstruction, event selection, and calibration of the detector response to nuclear and electronic recoils in XENON1T are discussed.
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| 20. |
- Aalbers, J., et al.
(author)
-
DARWIN : towards the ultimate dark matter detector
- 2016
-
In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN(2)) will be an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber at its core. Its primary goal will be to explore the experimentally accessible parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in a wide mass-range, until neutrino interactions with the target become an irreducible background. The prompt scintillation light and the charge signals induced by particle interactions in the xenon will be observed by VUV sensitive, ultra-low background photosensors. Besides its excellent sensitivity to WIMPs above a mass of 5 GeV/c(2), such a detector with its large mass, low-energy threshold and ultra-low background level will also be sensitive to other rare interactions. It will search for solar axions,galactic axion-like particles and the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Xe-136, as well as measure the low-energy solar neutrino flux with <1% precision, observe coherent neutrino-nucleus interactions, and detect galactic supernovae. We present the concept of the DARWIN detector and discuss its physics reach, the main sources of backgrounds and the ongoing detector design and R&D efforts.
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| 21. |
- Althueser, L., et al.
(author)
-
GPU-based optical simulation of the DARWIN detector
- 2022
-
In: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 17:7
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Understanding propagation of scintillation light is critical for maximizing the discovery potential of next-generation liquid xenon detectors that use dual-phase time projection chamber technology. This work describes a detailed optical simulation of the DARWIN detector implemented using Chroma, a GPU-based photon tracking framework. To evaluate the framework and to explore ways of maximizing efficiency and minimizing the time of light collection, we simulate several variations of the conventional detector design. Results of these selected studies are presented. More generally, we conclude that the approach used in this work allows one to investigate alternative designs faster and in more detail than using conventional Geant4 optical simulations, making it an attractive tool to guide the development of the ultimate liquid xenon observatory.
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| 22. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Effective field theory search for high-energy nuclear recoils using the XENON100 dark matter detector
- 2017
-
In: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010 .- 2470-0029. ; 96:4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 23. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
First Dark Matter Search Results from the XENON1T Experiment
- 2017
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 119:18
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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| 24. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
-
Low-mass dark matter search using ionization signals in XENON100
- 2016
-
In: Physical Review D. - 2470-0010. ; 94:9
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We perform a low-mass dark matter search using an exposure of 30 kg x yr with the XENON100 detector. By dropping the requirement of a scintillation signal and using only the ionization signal to determine the interaction energy, we lowered the energy threshold for detection to 0.7 keV for nuclear recoils. No dark matter detection can be claimed because a complete background model cannot be constructed without a primary scintillation signal. Instead, we compute an upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section under the assumption that every event passing our selection criteria could be a signal event. Using an energy interval from 0.7 keV to 9.1 keV, we derive a limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section that excludes WIMPs with a mass of 6 GeV/c(2) above 1.4 x 10(-41) cm(2) at 90% confidence level.
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| 25. |
- Aprile, E., et al.
(author)
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Material radioassay and selection for the XENON1T dark matter experiment
- 2017
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In: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 77:12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)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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