Background determination for the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment

Abstract

The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment recently reported limits on WIMP-nucleus interactions from its initial science run, down to 9.2×10-48 cm2 for the spin-independent interaction of a 36 GeV/c2 WIMP at 90% confidence level. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of the backgrounds important for this result and for other upcoming physics analyses, including neutrinoless double-beta decay searches and effective field theory interpretations of LUX-ZEPLIN data. We confirm that the in-situ determinations of bulk and fixed radioactive backgrounds are consistent with expectations from the ex-situ assays. The observed background rate after WIMP search criteria were applied was (6.3±0.5)×10-5 events/keVee/kg/day in the low-energy region, approximately 60 times lower than the equivalent rate reported by the LUX experiment.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:

Aalbers, J.
Akerib, D.S.
Musalhi, A.K.A.
Alder, F.
Alsum, S.K.
Amarasinghe, C.S.
Ames, A.
Anderson, T.J.
Angelides, N.
Araújo, H.M.
Armstrong, J.E.
Arthurs, M.
Baker, A.
Bang, J.
Bargemann, J.W.
Baxter, A.
Beattie, K.
Beltrame, P.
Bernard, E.P.
Bhatti, A.
Biekert, A.
Biesiadzinski, T.P.
Birch, H.J.
Blockinger, G.M.
Boxer, B.
Brew, C.A.J.
Brás, P.
Burdin, S.
Buuck, M.
Cabrita, R.
Carmona-Benitez, M.C.
Chan, C.
Chawla, A.
Chen, H.
Chiang, A.P.S.
Chott, N.I.
Converse, M.V.
Cottle, A.
Cox, G.
Creaner, O.
Dahl, C.E.
David, A.
Dey, S.
de Viveiros, L.
Ding, C.
Dobson, J.E.Y.
Druszkiewicz, E.
Eriksen, S.R.
Fan, A.
Fearon, N.M.
Fiorucci, S.
Flaecher, H.
Fraser, E.D.
Fruth, T.
Gaitskell, R.J.
Genovesi, J.
Ghag, C.
Gibbons, R.
Gilchriese, M.G.D.
Gokhale, S.
Green, J.
van der Grinten, M.G.D.
Gwilliam, C.B.
Hall, C.R.
Han, S.
Hartigan-O’Connor, E.
Haselschwardt, S.J.
Hertel, S.A.
Heuermann, G.
Horn, M.
Huang, D.Q.
Hunt, D.
Ignarra, C.M.
Jacobsen, R.G.
Jahangir, O.
James, R.S.
Johnson, J.
Kaboth, A.C.
Kamaha, A.C.
Khaitan, D.
Khurana, I.
Kirk, R.
Kodroff, D.
Korley, L.
Korolkova, E.V.
Kraus, H.
Kravitz, S.
Kreczko, L.
Krikler, B.
Kudryavtsev, V.A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7018-5827
Leason, E.A.
Lee, J.
Leonard, D.S.
Lesko, K.T.
Levy, C.
Lin, J.
Lindote, A.
Linehan, R.
Lippincott, W.H.
Liu, X.
Lopes, M.I.
Asamar, E.L.
Paredes, B.L.
Lorenzon, W.
Lu, C.
Luitz, S.
Majewski, P.A.
Manalaysay, A.
Mannino, R.L.
Marangou, N.
McCarthy, M.E.
McKinsey, D.N.
McLaughlin, J.
Miller, E.H.
Mizrachi, E.
Monte, A.
Monzani, M.E.
Mendoza, J.D.M.
Morrison, E.
Mount, B.J.
Murdy, M.
Murphy, A.S.J.
Naim, D.
Naylor, A.
Nedlik, C.
Nelson, H.N.
Neves, F.
Nguyen, A.
Nikoleyczik, J.A.
Olcina, I.
Oliver-Mallory, K.C.
Orpwood, J.
Palladino, K.J.
Palmer, J.
Parveen, N.
Patton, S.J.
Penning, B.
Pereira, G.
Perry, E.
Pershing, T.
Piepke, A.
Porzio, D.
Poudel, S.
Qie, Y.
Reichenbacher, J.
Rhyne, C.A.
Riffard, Q.
Rischbieter, G.R.C.
Riyat, H.S.
Rosero, R.
Rossiter, P.
Rushton, T.
Santone, D.
Sazzad, A.B.M.R.
Schnee, R.W.
Shaw, S.
Shutt, T.
Silk, J.J.
Silva, C.
Sinev, G.
Smith, R.
Solmaz, M.
Solovov, V.N.
Sorensen, P.
Soria, J.
Stancu, I.
Stevens, A.
Stifter, K.
Suerfu, B.
Sumner, T.J.
Swanson, N.
Szydagis, M.
Taylor, R.
Taylor, W.C.
Temples, D.J.
Terman, P.A.
Tiedt, D.R.
Timalsina, M.
Tong, Z.
Tovey, D.R.
Tranter, J.
Trask, M.
Tripathi, M.
Tronstad, D.R.
Turner, W.
Utku, U.
Vaitkus, A.C.
Wang, A.
Wang, J.J.
Wang, W.
Wang, Y.
Watson, J.R.
Webb, R.C.
Whitis, T.J.
Williams, M.
Wolfs, F.L.H.
Woodford, S.
Woodward, D.
Wright, C.J.
Xia, Q.
Xiang, X.
Xu, J.
Yeh, M.

©2023 American Physical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Dates:

Accepted: 30 May 2023
Published (online): 17 July 2023
Published: 17 July 2023

Institution:

The University of Sheffield

Academic Units:

The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield)

Funding Information:

Funder	Grant number
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL	ST/M003469/1
Science and Technology Facilities Council	ST/N000277/1
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL	ST/S000747/1

Depositing User:

Symplectic Sheffield

Date Deposited:

30 Nov 2023 09:54

Last Modified:

30 Nov 2023 09:54

Published Version:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.108.012010

Status:

Published

Publisher:

American Physical Society (APS)