We report on a search for particle dark matter with the XENON100 experiment, operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso for 13 months during 2011 and 2012. XENON100 features an ultralow ...electromagnetic background of (5.3 ± 0.6) × 10(-3) events/(keV(ee) × kg × day) in the energy region of interest. A blind analysis of 224.6 live days × 34 kg exposure has yielded no evidence for dark matter interactions. The two candidate events observed in the predefined nuclear recoil energy range of 6.6-30.5 keV(nr) are consistent with the background expectation of (1.0 ± 0.2) events. A profile likelihood analysis using a 6.6-43.3 keV(nr) energy range sets the most stringent limit on the spin-independent elastic weakly interacting massive particle-nucleon scattering cross section for weakly interacting massive particle masses above 8 GeV/c(2), with a minimum of 2 × 10(-45) cm(2) at 55 GeV/c(2) and 90% confidence level.
We present results from the direct search for dark matter with the XENON100 detector, installed underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN, Italy. XENON100 is a two-phase ...time-projection chamber with a 62 kg liquid xenon target. Interaction vertex reconstruction in three dimensions with millimeter precision allows the selection of only the innermost 48 kg as the ultralow background fiducial target. In 100.9 live days of data, acquired between January and June 2010, no evidence for dark matter is found. Three candidate events were observed in the signal region with an expected background of (1.8 ± 0.6) events. This leads to the most stringent limit on dark matter interactions today, excluding spin-independent elastic weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) nucleon scattering cross sections above 7.0 × 10(-45) cm(2) for a WIMP mass of 50 GeV/c(2) at 90% confidence level.
We present new experimental constraints on the elastic, spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross section using recent data from the XENON100 experiment, operated in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso ...in Italy. An analysis of 224.6 live days×34 kg of exposure acquired during 2011 and 2012 revealed no excess signal due to axial-vector WIMP interactions with 129Xe and 131Xe nuclei. This leads to the most stringent upper limits on WIMP-neutron cross sections for WIMP masses above 6 GeV/c², with a minimum cross section of 3.5×10(-40) cm² at a WIMP mass of 45 GeV/c², at 90% confidence level.
► Material selection based on their intrinsic radioactive contaminations is crucial for low background experiments. ► We present detailed results from the material screening and selection campaign ...for the XENON100 dark matter experiment. ► The measurements were performed using low background gamma-ray spectrometry and mass spectrometry.
Results of the extensive radioactivity screening campaign to identify materials for the construction of XENON100 are reported. This dark matter search experiment is operated underground at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy. Several ultra sensitive High Purity Germanium detectors (HPGe) have been used for gamma ray spectrometry. Mass spectrometry has been applied for a few low mass plastic samples. Detailed tables with the radioactive contaminations of all screened samples are presented, together with the implications for XENON100.
The XENON100 experiment, in operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, is designed to search for dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) scattering off 62 kg of ...liquid xenon in an ultralow background dual-phase time projection chamber. In this Letter, we present first dark matter results from the analysis of 11.17 live days of nonblind data, acquired in October and November 2009. In the selected fiducial target of 40 kg, and within the predefined signal region, we observe no events and hence exclude spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross sections above 3.4 × 10⁻⁴⁴ cm² for 55 GeV/c² WIMPs at 90% confidence level. Below 20 GeV/c², this result constrains the interpretation of the CoGeNT and DAMA signals as being due to spin-independent, elastic, light mass WIMP interactions.
We correct an overestimation of the production rate of
137
Xe in the DARWIN detector operated at LNGS. This formerly dominant intrinsic background source is now at a level similar to the irreducible ...background from solar
8
B neutrinos, thus unproblematic at the LNGS depth. The projected half-life sensitivity for the neutrinoless double beta decay (
0
ν
β
β
) of
136
Xe improves by
22
%
compared to the previously reported number and is now
T
1
/
2
0
ν
=
3.0
×
10
27
yr
(90% C.L.) after 10 years of DARWIN operation.
The multi-channel optical readout of a THGEM multiplier coupled to a matrix of 3×3 Geiger-mode APDs (GAPDs) was demonstrated in a two-phase Cryogenic Avalanche Detector (CRAD) in Ar. The GAPDs ...recorded THGEM-hole avalanches in the Near Infrared (NIR) spectral range. At an avalanche charge gain of 160, the yield of the combined THGEM/GAPD-matrix multiplier amounted to ~80 photoelectrons per 20keV X-ray absorbed in the liquid phase. A spatial resolution of 2.5mm (FWHM) has been measured for the impinging X-rays. This technique has potential applications in coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering and in dark matter search experiments.
In this article, we propose a novel image reconstruction technique for three-gamma (3-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX"> {\gamma } </tex-math></inline-formula>) imaging systems that aims at ...reaching high image quality with a low statistics. The proposed approach is based on the utilization of a (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX"> {\beta +} </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{\gamma } </tex-math></inline-formula>) emitter and a liquid xenon (LXe) camera, the Xenon Medical Imaging System 2 (XEMIS2), that is currently being manufactured. The third gamma emitted is more energetic than the two 511-keV photons and interacts mostly through Compton scattering in LXE; therefore, we utilize the interactions' position and the deposited energy to define a Compton cone that gives the direction from where the third gamma was emitted. The intersection point between the cone and the two coincidence photons' lines of response (LOR) is the center of the probability distribution function (PDF), a resolution model similar to that of time-of-flight (TOF)-positron emission tomography (PET). The third gamma's information is used to narrow the LOR portion employed during reconstruction. In this article, we show reconstruction results from simulation using highly realistic Geant4 Application for Emission Tomography (GATE) Monte Carlo simulation of the imaging device and a NEMA-like phantom.
PDF
