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First Search for Light Dark Matter in the Neutrino Fog with XENONnT

E. Aprile1, J. Aalbers2, K. Abe3, S. Ahmed Maouloud4, L. Althueser5, B. Andrieu4, E. Angelino6,7, D. Antón Martin8, F. Arneodo9 et al. (XENON Collaboration)

F. Arneodo9, L. Baudis10, M. Bazyk11, L. Bellagamba12, R. Biondi13, A. Bismark10, K. Boese13, A. Brown14, G. Bruno11, R. Budnik15, C. Cai16, C. Capelli10, J. M. R. Cardoso17, A. P. Cimental Chávez10, A. P. Colijn18, J. Conrad19, J. J. Cuenca-García10, V. D’Andrea7,*, L. C. Daniel Garcia4, M. P. Decowski18, A. Deisting20, C. Di Donato21,7, P. Di Gangi12, S. Diglio11, K. Eitel22, S. el Morabit18, A. Elykov22, A. D. Ferella21,7, C. Ferrari7, H. Fischer14, T. Flehmke19, M. Flierman18, W. Fulgione6,7, C. Fuselli18, P. Gaemers18, R. Gaior4, M. Galloway10, F. Gao16, S. Ghosh23, R. Giacomobono24, R. Glade-Beucke14, L. Grandi8, J. Grigat14, H. Guan23, M. Guida13, P. Gyorgy20, R. Hammann13, A. Higuera25, C. Hils20, L. Hoetzsch13, N. F. Hood26, M. Iacovacci24, Y. Itow27, J. Jakob5, F. Joerg13,10, Y. Kaminaga3, M. Kara22, P. Kavrigin15, S. Kazama27, M. Kobayashi27, D. Koke5, A. Kopec26,‡, H. Landsman15, R. F. Lang23, L. Levinson15, I. Li25, S. Li28, S. Liang25, Y.-T. Lin13, S. Lindemann14, M. Lindner13, K. Liu16, M. Liu1,16, J. Loizeau11, F. Lombardi20, J. Long8, J. A. M. Lopes17,†, T. Luce14, Y. Ma26, C. Macolino21,7, J. Mahlstedt19, A. Mancuso12, L. Manenti9, F. Marignetti24, T. Marrodán Undagoitia13, K. Martens3, J. Masbou11, E. Masson4, S. Mastroianni24, A. Melchiorre21,7, J. Merz20, M. Messina7, A. Michael5, K. Miuchi29, A. Molinario6, S. Moriyama3, K. Morå1, Y. Mosbacher15, M. Murra1, J. Müller14, K. Ni26, U. Oberlack20, B. Paetsch15, Y. Pan4, Q. Pellegrini4, R. Peres10, C. Peters25, J. Pienaar8,15, M. Pierre18, G. Plante1, T. R. Pollmann18, L. Principe11, J. Qi26, J. Qin25, D. Ramírez García10, M. Rajado10, R. Singh23, L. Sanchez25, J. M. F. dos Santos17, I. Sarnoff9, G. Sartorelli12, J. Schreiner13, P. Schulte5, H. Schulze Eißing5, M. Schumann14, L. Scotto Lavina4, M. Selvi12, F. Semeria12, P. Shagin20, S. Shi1,§, J. Shi16, M. Silva17, H. Simgen13, C. Szyszka20, A. Takeda3, P.-L. Tan19, D. Thers11, F. Toschi22, G. Trinchero6, C. D. Tunnell25, F. Tönnies14, K. Valerius22, S. Vecchi30, S. Vetter22, F. I. Villazon Solar20, G. Volta13, C. Weinheimer5, M. Weiss15, D. Wenz5, C. Wittweg10, V. H. S. Wu22, Y. Xing11, D. Xu1, Z. Xu1, M. Yamashita3, L. Yang26, J. Ye31, L. Yuan8,∥, G. Zavattini30, and M. Zhong26 (XENON Collaboration)

  • 1Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 2Nikhef and the University of Groningen, Van Swinderen Institute, 9747AG Groningen, Netherlands
  • 3Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, and Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Higashi-Mozumi, Kamioka, Hida, Gifu 506-1205, Japan
  • 4LPNHE, Sorbonne Université, CNRS/IN2P3, 75005 Paris, France
  • 5Institut für Kernphysik, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
  • 6INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Department of Physics, University of Torino and INFN-Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
  • 7INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
  • 8Department of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 9New York University Abu Dhabi - Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 10Physik-Institut, University of Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 11SUBATECH, IMT Atlantique, CNRS/IN2P3, Nantes Université, Nantes 44307, France
  • 12Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna and INFN-Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
  • 13Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 14Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
  • 15Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
  • 16Department of Physics and Center for High Energy Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, Peoples Republic of China
  • 17LIBPhys, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 18Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, 1098XG Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 19Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Stockholm SE-10691, Sweden
  • 20Institut für Physik & Exzellenzcluster PRISMA+, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany
  • 21Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
  • 22Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 23Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
  • 24Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini,” University of Napoli and INFN-Napoli, 80126 Napoli, Italy
  • 25Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 26Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
  • 27Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe, and Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
  • 28Department of Physics, School of Science, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, Peoples Republic of China
  • 29Department of Physics, Kobe University, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan
  • 30INFN-Ferrara and Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
  • 31School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518172, Peoples Republic of China

  • *Also at INFN-Roma Tre, 00146 Roma, Italy.
  • †Also at Coimbra Polytechnic—ISEC, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal.
  • ‡Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
  • §Contact author: shenyang.shi@columbia.edu
  • ∥Contact author: yuanlq@uchicago.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 111802 – Published 20 March, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.111802

Abstract

We search for dark matter (DM) with a mass [3,12]  GeV/c2 using an exposure of 3.51  tonne year with the XENONnT experiment. We consider spin-independent DM-nucleon interactions mediated by a heavy or light mediator, spin-dependent DM-neutron interactions, momentum-dependent DM scattering, and mirror DM. Using a lowered energy threshold compared to the previous weakly interacting massive particle search, a blind analysis of [0.5, 5.0] keV nuclear recoil events reveals no significant signal excess over the background. XENONnT excludes spin-independent DM-nucleon cross sections >2.5×10−45  cm2 at 90% confidence level for 6  GeV/c2 DM. In the considered mass range, the DM sensitivity approaches the “neutrino fog,” the limitation where neutrinos produce a signal that is indistinguishable from that of light DM-xenon nucleus scattering.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 111802– Published 20 March, 2025
  • Received 26 September 2024
  • Accepted 21 January 2025
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