Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity D.S. Akerib1 2S. Alsum3H.M. Ara ujo4X. Bai5J. Balajthy6J. Bang7A. Baxter8E.P. Bernard9

2025-04-26 2 0 2.29MB 7 页 10玖币

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Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX

and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity

D.S. Akerib,1, 2 S. Alsum,3H.M. Ara´ujo,4X. Bai,5J. Balajthy,6J. Bang,7A. Baxter,8E.P. Bernard,9

A. Bernstein,10 T.P. Biesiadzinski,1, 2 E.M. Boulton,9, 11, 12 B. Boxer,8P. Br´as,13 S. Burdin,8D. Byram,14, 15

M.C. Carmona-Benitez,16 C. Chan,7J.E. Cutter,6L. de Viveiros,16 E. Druszkiewicz,17 A. Fan,1, 2 S. Fiorucci,11, 7

R.J. Gaitskell,7C. Ghag,18 M.G.D. Gilchriese,11 C. Gwilliam,8C.R. Hall,19 S.J. Haselschwardt,20 S.A. Hertel,21, 11

D.P. Hogan,9M. Horn,15, 9 D.Q. Huang,7, ∗C.M. Ignarra,1, 2 R.G. Jacobsen,9O. Jahangir,18 W. Ji,1, 2

K. Kamdin,9, 11 K. Kazkaz,10 D. Khaitan,17 E.V. Korolkova,22 S. Kravitz,11 V.A. Kudryavtsev,22 E. Leason,23

K.T. Lesko,11 J. Liao,7J. Lin,9A. Lindote,13 M.I. Lopes,13 A. Manalaysay,11, 6 R.L. Mannino,24, 3 N. Marangou,4

D.N. McKinsey,9, 11 D.-M. Mei,14 J.A. Morad,6A.St.J. Murphy,23 A. Naylor,22 C. Nehrkorn,20 H.N. Nelson,20

F. Neves,13 A. Nilima,23 K.C. Oliver-Mallory,4, 9, 11 K.J. Palladino,3C. Rhyne,7Q. Riﬀard,9, 11 G.R.C. Rischbieter,25

P. Rossiter,22 S. Shaw,20, 18 T.A. Shutt,1, 2 C. Silva,13 M. Solmaz,20 V.N. Solovov,13 P. Sorensen,11 T.J. Sumner,4

N. Swanson,7M. Szydagis,25 D.J. Taylor,15 R. Taylor,4W.C. Taylor,7B.P. Tennyson,12 P.A. Terman,24

D.R. Tiedt,19 W.H. To,26 L. Tvrznikova,9, 11, 12 U. Utku,18 A. Vacheret,4A. Vaitkus,7V. Velan,9R.C. Webb,24

J.T. White,24 T.J. Whitis,1, 2 M.S. Witherell,11 F.L.H. Wolfs,17 D. Woodward,16 X. Xiang,7J. Xu,10 and C. Zhang14

1SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94205, USA

2Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology,

Stanford University, 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94309, USA

3University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Physics,

1150 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706, USA

4Imperial College London, High Energy Physics, Blackett Laboratory, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom

5South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 501 East St Joseph St., Rapid City, SD 57701, USA

6University of California Davis, Department of Physics, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA

7Brown University, Department of Physics, 182 Hope St., Providence, RI 02912, USA

8University of Liverpool, Department of Physics, Liverpool L69 7ZE, UK

9University of California Berkeley, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

10Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave., Livermore, CA 94551, USA

11Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

12Yale University, Department of Physics, 217 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511, USA

13LIP-Coimbra, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal

14University of South Dakota, Department of Physics, 414E Clark St., Vermillion, SD 57069, USA

15South Dakota Science and Technology Authority,

Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, SD 57754, USA

16Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics,

104 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802-6300, USA

17University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, NY 14627, USA

18Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London,

Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

19University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD 20742, USA

20University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Physics, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

21University of Massachusetts, Amherst Center for Fundamental

Interactions and Department of Physics, Amherst, MA 01003-9337 USA

22University of Sheﬃeld, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheﬃeld, S3 7RH, United Kingdom

23SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom

24Texas A & M University, Department of Physics, College Station, TX 77843, USA

25University at Albany, State University of New York,

Department of Physics, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222, USA

26California State University Stanislaus, Department of Physics, 1 University Circle, Turlock, CA 95382, USA

Dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) detectors oﬀer heightened sensitivities for dark

matter detection across a spectrum of particle masses. To broaden their capability to low-mass

dark matter interactions, we investigated the light and charge responses of liquid xenon (LXe)

to sub-keV nuclear recoils. Using neutron events from a pulsed Adelphi Deuterium-Deuterium

neutron generator, an in situ calibration was conducted on the LUX detector. We demonstrate

direct measurements of light and charge yields down to 0.45 keV and 0.27 keV, respectively, both

approaching single quanta production, the physical limit of LXe detectors. These results hold

signiﬁcant implications for the future of dual-phase xenon TPCs in detecting low-mass dark matter

via nuclear recoils.

arXiv:2210.05859v4 [physics.ins-det] 18 Feb 2025

Introduction.—Dual-phase xenon time projection

chambers (TPCs), a leading technology for dark mat-

ter detection[1–4], measure nuclear recoils (NR) from

weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) through

both scintillation light (S1) and ionization charge (S2)

in liquid xenon (LXe). Detecting low-mass dark matter

remains challenging due to limited calibrations of low-

energy NR responses. This study presents the ﬁrst si-

multaneous measurements of light (Ly) and charge (Qy)

yields for NR in LXe, characterizing the average quanta

per keV down to the sub-keV region using the Large Un-

derground Xenon (LUX) detector. These yields were ob-

tained indirectly by comparing data with simulation of

the NR spectrum.

Data Collection and Analysis.—In 2016, we enhanced

the NR calibration of the LUX detector [5] in situ, us-

ing neutron events from a pulsed Adelphi1Deuterium-

Deuterium (D-D) neutron generator.2LUX has a 250

kg active mass and 122 2-inch PMTs in top and bot-

tom arrays, shielded by a 7.6 m ×6.1 m cylindrical wa-

ter tank. Incident particles generate immediate S1 scin-

tillation photons, detected by PMTs with a gain (g1)

of 0.096 ±0.003 photon detected (phd)/photon [9, 10].

Concurrently, the ionization charge drifts upwards in

LXe and, upon transitioning to the gas phase, pro-

duces the S2 signal with an ionization gain (g2) of

18.5±0.9 phd/electron. Each electron induces, on av-

erage, 25.72 ±0.04 phd with a width of 5.47 ±0.03 phd

across PMTs [11]. For LUX details, consult [6, 7, 9, 12–

19].

A schematic of the experimental setup is depicted

in Fig. 1. We directed a collimated neutron beam

(2.45 MeV) through a conduit of 377 cm length and

4.9 cm diameter. The conduit center is 10 cm below the

LXe surface, within a 50 cm deep active volume. The

D-D generator operated at a 250 Hz frequency and a

20 µs pulse width, producing an instantaneous ﬂux of

2.8×108neutrons/s. At this ﬂux rate, on average, about

0.06 neutrons reach the TPC with each pulse, resulting in

a probability of approximately 3% for multiple neutron

interactions per pulse. In the pulsed mode, the D-D gen-

erator’s trigger time provides an estimate of the neutron

interaction time in the TPC, enabling us to study low-

energy events that produce detectable ionization signals

without accompanying scintillation signals.

For yield measurements, we selected D-D neutron

events that exhibited a single scatter, characterized by

one observed S2 exceeding 44 phd; signals below this

threshold are notably aﬀected by spurious background

single electrons (SE). This criterion may encompass neu-

1Adelphi Technology Inc., 2003 E. Bayshore Road, Redwood City,

CA 94063

2For the ﬁrst LUX D-D neutron calibration (LUX DD2013) de-

tails, see [6–8].

4.9 cm

2.45 MeV

neutrons

beam on

20 µs

4 ms (250Hz)

LUX

Water

Tank

electron drift direction

FIG. 1. Diagram (not to scale) of the LUX’s short-pulsed

D-D neutron calibration.

tron multi-scatters, where one S2 exceeds the threshold

and others do not, we address this potential systematics

in our signal modeling. Targeting low-energy neutron-

induced xenon recoils, we permitted events with zero or

one preceding S1 pulse to the S2. In this context, an

S1, unlike those in other LUX analyses, is deﬁned as

a scintillation signal without the typical two-fold coin-

cidence, with its magnitude quantiﬁed by the discrete

photon counts on the PMTs, termed ‘spikes’ [9]. S2 sig-

nals must occur within 65 to 125 µs after a D-D trigger,

align with the neutron conduit depth (7.5-12.5 cm), and

be located within the neutron beam’s xy projection, de-

ﬁned as a 7 cm diameter cylinder, to capture the majority

of signal events while eliminating spurious coincidences.

For events with S1, a time cut of >2.5µs between S1

and S2 further reﬁnes our selection, eliminating events

where S1 pulses are misconstrued from the leading edge

of an S2. To maximize event inclusion, we abstain from

a radial ﬁducialization cut. Notably, S2 signal charge

loss near the TPC wall is deemed negligible (0.13% of

events) [11], attributed to charge accumulation on the

wall, guiding signals inward during vertical transit [13].

The primary background in this study stems from

electron-train (e-train) events, ubiquitous in xenon

TPCs. Deﬁned as sequences of single or clustered few-

electron emissions trailing large S2 pulses with roughly

10 ms time constants [20], these e-trains may be mis-

takenly identiﬁed as S2 signals from low-energy neutron

interactions, complicating the calibration process. Utiliz-

ing the temporal precision of the D-D trigger to require

coincidence with the TPC signals eﬀectively eliminates

prevalent e-train background interference. Two addi-

tional quiet-time cuts further diminish e-train contam-

ination: the ﬁrst mandates a 4 ms hiatus between LUX-

triggered events and the candidate signal, and the sec-

ond asserts that no SE emissions precede the observed S2

within the event. Both cuts, optimized for signal-to-noise

ratio, reduce e-train events by factors of three and two,

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NuclearRecoilCalibrationatSub-keVEnergiesinLUXandItsImpactonDarkMatterSearchSensitivityD.S.Akerib,1,2S.Alsum,3H.M.Ara´ujo,4X.Bai,5J.Balajthy,6J.Bang,7A.Baxter,8E.P.Bernard,9A.Bernstein,10T.P.Biesiadzinski,1,2E.M.Boulton,9,11,12B.Boxer,8P.Br´as,13S.Burdin,8D.Byram,14,15M.C.Carmona-Benitez,16C.Chan,7J...

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Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity D.S. Akerib1 2S. Alsum3H.M. Ara ujo4X. Bai5J. Balajthy6J. Bang7A. Baxter8E.P. Bernard9.pdf

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Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity D.S. Akerib1 2S. Alsum3H.M. Ara ujo4X. Bai5J. Balajthy6J. Bang7A. Baxter8E.P. Bernard9

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