We present a comprehensive analysis of electronic recoil vs nuclear recoil discrimination in liquid/gas xenon time projection chambers, using calibration data from the 2013 and 2014–2016 runs of the ...Large Underground Xenon experiment. We observe strong charge-to-light discrimination enhancement with increased event energy. For events with S1 = 120 detected photons, i.e., equivalent to a nuclear recoil energy of ∼100 keV, we observe an electronic recoil background acceptance of < 10−5 at a nuclear recoil signal acceptance of 50%. We also observe modest electric field dependence of the discrimination power, which peaks at a field of around 300 V/cm over the range of fields explored in this study (50 – 500 V/cm). In the weakly interacting massive particle search region of S1 = 1−80 phd , the minimum electronic recoil leakage we observe is (7.3 ± 0.6) × 10−4, which is obtained for a drift field of 240 – 290V/cm. Pulse shape discrimination is utilized to improve our results, and we find that, at low energies and low fields, there is an additional reduction in background leakage by a factor of up to 3. We develop an empirical model for recombination fluctuations which, when used alongside the Noble Element Scintillation Technique simulation package, correctly reproduces the skewness of the electronic recoil data. We use this updated simulation to study the width of the electronic recoil band, finding that its dominant contribution comes from electron-ion recombination fluctuations, followed in magnitude of contribution by fluctuations in the S1 signal, fluctuations in the S2 signal, and fluctuations in the total number of quanta produced for a given energy deposition.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter search was a 250-kg active mass dual-phase time projection chamber that operated by detecting light and ionization signals from particles incident on a ...xenon target. In December 2015, LUX reported a minimum 90% upper C.L. of 6 × 10−46 cm2 on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross section based on a 1.4 × 104 kg·day exposure in its first science run. Tension between experiments and the absence of a definitive positive detection suggest it would be prudent to search for WIMPs outside the standard spin-independent/spin-dependent paradigm. Recent theoretical work has identified a complete basis of 14 independent effective field theory (EFT) operators to describe WIMP-nucleon interactions. In addition to spin-independent and spin-dependent nuclear responses, these operators can produce novel responses such as angular-momentum-dependent and spin-orbit couplings. Here we report on a search for all 14 of these EFT couplings with data from LUX's first science run. Limits are placed on each coupling as a function of WIMP mass.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
We present the results from combining machine learning with the profile likelihood fit procedure, using data from the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment. This approach demonstrates ...reduction in computation time by a factor of 30 when compared with the previous approach, without loss of performance on real data. We establish its flexibility to capture non-linear correlations between variables (such as smearing in light and charge signals due to position variation) by achieving equal performance using pulse areas with and without position-corrections applied. Its efficiency and scalability furthermore enables searching for dark matter using additional variables without significant computational burden. We demonstrate this by including a light signal pulse shape variable alongside more traditional inputs such as light and charge signal strengths. Furthermore, this technique can be exploited by future dark matter experiments to make use of additional information, reduce computational resources needed for signal searches and simulations, and make inclusion of physical nuisance parameters in fits tractable.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
4.
Tests of gases in a mini-TPC with pixel chip readout Vahsen, S.; Oliver-Mallory, K.; Lopez-Thibodeaux, M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
02/2014, Volume:
738
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Gases for potential use as targets for directional dark matter detection were tested in a prototype detector using two sequential Gas Electron Multipliers, or GEMs. The sensitive volume consists of a ...mini-TPC of 12cm length and 7.5cm diameter. An FEI3 pixel chip, developed for the ATLAS experiment, was used to produce spatial measurements with high resolution. An Fe55 source produced photoelectrons by X-ray conversions in the sensitive volume, and images of these were recorded by the chip. Spatial resolution plots are shown for the gases, which include the practical electron range of the photoelectrons and the effects of diffusion in the mini-TPC. Avalanche gain and gain resolution measurements were made for the four gases tested, at atmospheric and sub-atmospheric pressures: Ar(70)/CO2(30), CF4, He(80)/CF4(20) and He(80)/isobutane(20).
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment is a dark matter detector centered on a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. This ...Letter reports results from LUX-ZEPLIN's first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with an exposure of 60 live days using a fiducial mass of 5.5 t. A profile-likelihood ratio analysis shows the data to be consistent with a background-only hypothesis, setting new limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon, spin-dependent WIMP-neutron, and spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross sections for WIMP masses above 9 GeV/c^{2}. The most stringent limit is set for spin-independent scattering at 36 GeV/c^{2}, rejecting cross sections above 9.2×10^{-48} cm at the 90% confidence level.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a next-generation dark matter direct detection experiment that will operate 4850 feet underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. ...Using a two-phase xenon detector with an active mass of 7 tonnes, LZ will search primarily for low-energy interactions with weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are hypothesized to make up the dark matter in our galactic halo. In this paper, the projected WIMP sensitivity of LZ is presented based on the latest background estimates and simulations of the detector. For a 1000 live day run using a 5.6-tonne fiducial mass, LZ is projected to exclude at 90% confidence level spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections above 1.4 × 10−48 cm2 for a 40 GeV/c2 mass WIMP. Additionally, a 5 σ discovery potential is projected, reaching cross sections below the exclusion limits of recent experiments. For spin-dependent WIMP-neutron(-proton) scattering, a sensitivity of 2.3 × 10−43 cm2 (7.1 × 10−42 cm2) for a 40 GeV/c2 mass WIMP is expected. With underground installation well underway, LZ is on track for commissioning at SURF in 2020.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
The first searches for axions and axionlike particles with the Large Underground Xenon experiment are presented. Under the assumption of an axioelectric interaction in xenon, the coupling constant ...between axions and electrons g_{Ae} is tested using data collected in 2013 with an exposure totaling 95 live days ×118 kg. A double-sided, profile likelihood ratio statistic test excludes g_{Ae} larger than 3.5×10^{-12} (90% C.L.) for solar axions. Assuming the Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky theoretical description, the upper limit in coupling corresponds to an upper limit on axion mass of 0.12 eV/c^{2}, while for the Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zhakharov description masses above 36.6 eV/c^{2} are excluded. For galactic axionlike particles, values of g_{Ae} larger than 4.2×10^{-13} are excluded for particle masses in the range 1-16 keV/c^{2}. These are the most stringent constraints to date for these interactions.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
We present measurements of the electron-recoil (ER) response of the LUX dark matter detector based upon 170000 highly pure and spatially uniform tritium decays. We reconstruct the tritium energy ...spectrum using the combined energy model and find good agreement with expectations. We report the average charge and light yields of ER events in liquid xenon at 180 and 105V/cm and compare the results to the NEST model. We also measure the mean charge recombination fraction and its fluctuations, and we investigate the location and width of the LUX ER band. These results provide input to a reanalysis of the LUX run 3 weakly interacting massive particle search.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
PDF
