Aalbers, J., Akerib, D.S., Al Musalhi, A.K. orcid.org/0009-0004-3067-9939 et al. (205 more authors) (2025) Measurements and models of enhanced recombination following inner-shell vacancies in liquid xenon. Physical Review D, 112 (1). 012024. ISSN: 2470-0010
Abstract
Electron-capture decays of 125Xe and 127Xe, and double-electron-capture decays of 124Xe, are backgrounds in searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) conducted by dual-phase xenon time projection chambers such as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ). These decays produce signals with more light and less charge than equivalent-energy B decays and correspondingly overlap more with WIMP signals. We measure three electron-capture charge yields in LZ: the 1.1 keV M-shell, 5.2 keV L-shell, and 33.2 keV K-shell at drift fields of 193 and 96.5 V/cm. The LL double-electron-capture decay of 124Xe exhibits even more pronounced shifts in charge and light. We provide a first model of double-electron-capture charge yields using the link between ionization density and electron-ion recombination, and identify a need for more accurate calculations. Finally, we discuss the implications of the reduced charge yield of these decays and other interactions creating inner-shell vacancies for future dark matter searches.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Authors/Creators: |
|
| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 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. |
| Keywords: | Nuclear and Plasma Physics; Physical Sciences |
| Dates: |
|
| 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/W000547/1 |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Aug 2025 13:24 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Aug 2025 13:26 |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | American Physical Society (APS) |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Identification Number: | 10.1103/447w-94h3 |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:230138 |

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)