Search for the Migdal effect in liquid xenon with keV-level nuclear recoils

J. Xu; D. Adams; B. G. Lenardo; T. Pershing; R. L. Mannino; E. Bernard; J. Kingston; E. Mizrachi; J. Lin; R. Essig; V. Mozin; P. Kerr; A. Bernstein; M. Tripathi

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L051101

Search for the Migdal effect in liquid xenon with keV-level nuclear recoils

J. Xu
, D. Adams
, B. G. Lenardo
, T. Pershing
, R. L. Mannino
, E. Bernard
, J. Kingston
, E. Mizrachi
, J. Lin
, R. Essig
, V. Mozin
, P. Kerr
, A. Bernstein
, M. Tripathi

Institute for Theoretical Physics

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Stony Brook University
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
University of California at Davis
University of Maryland, College Park
University of California at Berkeley

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Migdal effect predicts that a nuclear recoil interaction can be accompanied by atomic ionization, allowing many dark matter direct detection experiments to gain sensitivity to sub-GeV masses. We report the first direct search for the Migdal effect for M- and L-shell electrons in liquid xenon using (7.0±1.6) keV nuclear recoils produced by tagged neutron scatters. Despite an observed background rate lower than that of expected signals in the region of interest, we do not observe a signal consistent with predictions. We discuss possible explanations, including inaccurate predictions for either the Migdal rate or the signal response in liquid xenon. We comment on the implications for direct dark matter searches and future Migdal characterization efforts.

Original language	English
Article number	L051101
Journal	Physical Review D
Volume	109
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L051101
State	Published - Mar 1 2024

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10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L051101

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title = "Search for the Migdal effect in liquid xenon with keV-level nuclear recoils",

abstract = "The Migdal effect predicts that a nuclear recoil interaction can be accompanied by atomic ionization, allowing many dark matter direct detection experiments to gain sensitivity to sub-GeV masses. We report the first direct search for the Migdal effect for M- and L-shell electrons in liquid xenon using (7.0±1.6) keV nuclear recoils produced by tagged neutron scatters. Despite an observed background rate lower than that of expected signals in the region of interest, we do not observe a signal consistent with predictions. We discuss possible explanations, including inaccurate predictions for either the Migdal rate or the signal response in liquid xenon. We comment on the implications for direct dark matter searches and future Migdal characterization efforts.",

author = "J. Xu and D. Adams and Lenardo, \{B. G.\} and T. Pershing and Mannino, \{R. L.\} and E. Bernard and J. Kingston and E. Mizrachi and J. Lin and R. Essig and V. Mozin and P. Kerr and A. Bernstein and M. Tripathi",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the {"}https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/{"}Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.",

year = "2024",

month = mar,

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doi = "10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L051101",

language = "English",

volume = "109",

journal = "Physical Review D",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Search for the Migdal effect in liquid xenon with keV-level nuclear recoils

AU - Xu, J.

AU - Adams, D.

AU - Lenardo, B. G.

AU - Pershing, T.

AU - Mannino, R. L.

AU - Bernard, E.

AU - Kingston, J.

AU - Mizrachi, E.

AU - Lin, J.

AU - Essig, R.

AU - Mozin, V.

AU - Kerr, P.

AU - Bernstein, A.

AU - Tripathi, M.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

PY - 2024/3/1

Y1 - 2024/3/1

N2 - The Migdal effect predicts that a nuclear recoil interaction can be accompanied by atomic ionization, allowing many dark matter direct detection experiments to gain sensitivity to sub-GeV masses. We report the first direct search for the Migdal effect for M- and L-shell electrons in liquid xenon using (7.0±1.6) keV nuclear recoils produced by tagged neutron scatters. Despite an observed background rate lower than that of expected signals in the region of interest, we do not observe a signal consistent with predictions. We discuss possible explanations, including inaccurate predictions for either the Migdal rate or the signal response in liquid xenon. We comment on the implications for direct dark matter searches and future Migdal characterization efforts.

AB - The Migdal effect predicts that a nuclear recoil interaction can be accompanied by atomic ionization, allowing many dark matter direct detection experiments to gain sensitivity to sub-GeV masses. We report the first direct search for the Migdal effect for M- and L-shell electrons in liquid xenon using (7.0±1.6) keV nuclear recoils produced by tagged neutron scatters. Despite an observed background rate lower than that of expected signals in the region of interest, we do not observe a signal consistent with predictions. We discuss possible explanations, including inaccurate predictions for either the Migdal rate or the signal response in liquid xenon. We comment on the implications for direct dark matter searches and future Migdal characterization efforts.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85187565825

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L051101

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.109.L051101

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85187565825

SN - 2470-0010

VL - 109

JO - Physical Review D

JF - Physical Review D

IS - 5

M1 - L051101

ER -

Search for the Migdal effect in liquid xenon with keV-level nuclear recoils

Abstract

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