Results of a Search for Sub-GeV Dark Matter Using 2013 LUX Data

D S Akerib; S Alsum; H M Araújo; X Bai; J Balajthy; P Beltrame; E P Bernard; A Bernstein; T P Biesiadzinski; E M Boulton; B Boxer; P Brás; S Burdin; D Byram; M C Carmona-Benitez; C Chan; J E Cutter; T J R Davison; E Druszkiewicz; S R Fallon; A Fan; S Fiorucci; R J Gaitskell; J Genovesi; C Ghag; M G D Gilchriese; C Gwilliam; C R Hall; S J Haselschwardt; S A Hertel; D P Hogan; M Horn; D Q Huang; C M Ignarra; R G Jacobsen; O Jahangir; W Ji; K Kamdin; K Kazkaz; D Khaitan; R Knoche; E V Korolkova; S Kravitz; V A Kudryavtsev; B G Lenardo; K T Lesko; J Liao; J Lin; A Lindote; M I Lopes; A Manalaysay; R L Mannino; N Marangou; M F Marzioni; D N McKinsey; D-M Mei; M Moongweluwan; J A Morad; A St J Murphy; A Naylor; C Nehrkorn; H N Nelson; F Neves; K C Oliver-Mallory; K J Palladino; E K Pease; Q Riffard; G R C Rischbieter; C Rhyne; P Rossiter; S Shaw; T A Shutt; C Silva; M Solmaz; V N Solovov; P Sorensen; T J Sumner; M Szydagis; D J Taylor; W C Taylor; B P Tennyson; P A Terman; D R Tiedt; W H To; M Tripathi; L Tvrznikova; U Utku; S Uvarov; V Velan; R C Webb; J T White; T J Whitis; M S Witherell; F L H Wolfs; D Woodward; J Xu; K Yazdani; C Zhang; LUX Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.131301

Results of a Search for Sub-GeV Dark Matter Using 2013 LUX Data

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Apr 5;122(13):131301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.131301.

Authors

D S Akerib^{1

2

3}, S Alsum⁴, H M Araújo⁵, X Bai⁶, J Balajthy⁷, P Beltrame⁸, E P Bernard⁹, A Bernstein¹⁰, T P Biesiadzinski^{1

2

3}, E M Boulton^{9

11

12}, B Boxer¹³, P Brás¹⁴, S Burdin¹³, D Byram^{15

16}, M C Carmona-Benitez¹⁷, C Chan¹⁸, J E Cutter⁷, T J R Davison⁸, E Druszkiewicz¹⁹, S R Fallon²⁰, A Fan^{2

3}, S Fiorucci^{11

18}, R J Gaitskell¹⁸, J Genovesi²⁰, C Ghag²¹, M G D Gilchriese¹¹, C Gwilliam¹³, C R Hall²², S J Haselschwardt²³, S A Hertel^{11

24}, D P Hogan⁹, M Horn^{9

16}, D Q Huang¹⁸, C M Ignarra^{2

3}, R G Jacobsen⁹, O Jahangir²¹, W Ji^{1

2

3}, K Kamdin^{9

11}, K Kazkaz¹⁰, D Khaitan¹⁹, R Knoche²², E V Korolkova²⁵, S Kravitz¹¹, V A Kudryavtsev²⁵, B G Lenardo^{7

10}, K T Lesko¹¹, J Liao¹⁸, J Lin⁹, A Lindote¹⁴, M I Lopes¹⁴, A Manalaysay⁷, R L Mannino^{4

26}, N Marangou⁵, M F Marzioni⁸, D N McKinsey^{9

11}, D-M Mei¹⁵, M Moongweluwan¹⁹, J A Morad⁷, A St J Murphy⁸, A Naylor²⁵, C Nehrkorn²³, H N Nelson²³, F Neves¹⁴, K C Oliver-Mallory^{9

11}, K J Palladino⁴, E K Pease^{9

11}, Q Riffard^{9

11}, G R C Rischbieter²⁰, C Rhyne¹⁸, P Rossiter²⁵, S Shaw^{21

23}, T A Shutt^{1

2

3}, C Silva¹⁴, M Solmaz²³, V N Solovov¹⁴, P Sorensen¹¹, T J Sumner⁵, M Szydagis²⁰, D J Taylor¹⁶, W C Taylor¹⁸, B P Tennyson¹², P A Terman²⁶, D R Tiedt⁶, W H To²⁷, M Tripathi⁷, L Tvrznikova^{9

11

12}, U Utku²¹, S Uvarov⁷, V Velan⁹, R C Webb²⁶, J T White²⁶, T J Whitis^{1

2

3}, M S Witherell¹¹, F L H Wolfs¹⁹, D Woodward¹⁷, J Xu¹⁰, K Yazdani⁵, C Zhang¹⁵; LUX Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Case Western Reserve University, Department of Physics, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA.
² SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94205, USA.
³ Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, California 94309, USA.
⁴ University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Physics, 1150 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
⁵ Imperial College London, High Energy Physics, Blackett Laboratory, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom.
⁶ South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 501 East St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
⁷ University of California Davis, Department of Physics, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA.
⁸ SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom.
⁹ University of California Berkeley, Department of Physics, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹⁰ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
¹¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹² Yale University, Department of Physics, 217 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
¹³ University of Liverpool, Department of Physics, Liverpool L69 7ZE, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ LIP-Coimbra, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal.
¹⁵ University of South Dakota, Department of Physics, 414E Clark Street, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
¹⁶ South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota 57754, USA.
¹⁷ Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, 104 Davey Lab, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-6300, USA.
¹⁸ Brown University, Department of Physics, 182 Hope Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
¹⁹ University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
²⁰ University at Albany, State University of New York, Department of Physics, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222, USA.
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
²² University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
²³ University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Physics, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
²⁴ University of Massachusetts, Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Department of Physics, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9337, USA.
²⁵ University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheffield, S3 7RH, United Kingdom.
²⁶ Texas A & M University, Department of Physics, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
²⁷ California State University Stanislaus, Department of Physics, 1 University Circle, Turlock, California 95382, USA.

PMID: 31012624
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.131301

Abstract

The scattering of dark matter (DM) particles with sub-GeV masses off nuclei is difficult to detect using liquid xenon-based DM search instruments because the energy transfer during nuclear recoils is smaller than the typical detector threshold. However, the tree-level DM-nucleus scattering diagram can be accompanied by simultaneous emission of a bremsstrahlung photon or a so-called "Migdal" electron. These provide an electron recoil component to the experimental signature at higher energies than the corresponding nuclear recoil. The presence of this signature allows liquid xenon detectors to use both the scintillation and the ionization signals in the analysis where the nuclear recoil signal would not be otherwise visible. We report constraints on spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering for DM particles with masses of 0.4-5 GeV/c^{2} using 1.4×10^{4} kg day of search exposure from the 2013 data from the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment for four different classes of mediators. This analysis extends the reach of liquid xenon-based DM search instruments to lower DM masses than has been achieved previously.