Challenging spontaneous quantum collapse with the XENONnT dark matter detector

Abstract

We report on the search for x-ray radiation as predicted from dynamical quantum collapse with low-energy electronic recoil data in the energy range of 1–140 keV from the first science run of the XENONnT dark matter detector. Spontaneous radiation is an unavoidable effect of dynamical collapse models, which were introduced as a possible solution to the long-standing measurement problem in quantum mechanics. The analysis utilizes a model that for the first time accounts for cancellation effects in the emitted spectrum, which arise in the x-ray range due to the opposing electron-proton charges in xenon atoms. New world-leading limits on the free parameters of the Markovian continuous spontaneous localization and Diósi-Penrose models are set, improving previous best constraints by two orders of magnitude and a factor of five, respectively. For the strength and correlation length of the continuous spontaneous localization model, values in the originally proposed parameter ranges are experimentally excluded for the first time.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Aprile, E. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6595-7098 Aalbers, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0030-0030 Abe, K. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9620-788X Ahmed Maouloud, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0844-4576 Althueser, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-4298 Andrieu, B. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6485-4163 Angelino, E. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6695-4355 Antón Martin, D. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7725-5552 Armbruster, S.R. https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6440-1210 Arneodo, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1061-0510 Baudis, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4710-1768 Bazyk, M. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7986-153X Bellagamba, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7098-9393 Biondi, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6622-8740 Bismark, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0574-4303 Boese, K. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0662-0920 Brown, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1623-8086 Bruno, G. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9005-2821 Budnik, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1963-9408 Cai, C. Capelli, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3330-621X Cardoso, J.M.R. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8832-8208 Cimental Chávez, A.P. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9605-5985 Colijn, A.P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3118-5197 Conrad, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9984-4411 Cuenca-García, J.J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3869-7398 D’Andrea, V. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2037-4133 Daniel Garcia, L.C. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5813-9118 Decowski, M.P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1577-6229 Deisting, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5372-9944 Di Donato, C. https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9268-6402 Di Gangi, P. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4982-3748 Diglio, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9340-0534 Eitel, K. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5900-0599 el Morabit, S. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0193-8891 Elykov, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2693-232X Ferella, A.D. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6006-9160 Ferrari, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0838-2328 Fischer, H. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9342-7665 Flehmke, T. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7944-2671 Flierman, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3785-7871 Fulgione, W. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2388-3809 Fuselli, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7517-8618 Gaemers, P. https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1108-1619 Gaior, R. https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2488-5856 Galloway, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8323-9564 Gao, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1376-677X Ghosh, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7785-9102 Giacomobono, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6162-1319 Girard, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0537-6296 Glade-Beucke, R. https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5455-2232 Grandi, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0771-7568 Grigat, J. https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4775-0196 Guan, H. https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5049-0812 Guida, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5126-0337 Gyorgy, P. https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7616-5762 Hammann, R. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6149-9413 Higuera, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9310-2994 Hils, C. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9309-8184 Hoetzsch, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2572-477X Hood, N.F. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2507-7656 Iacovacci, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3102-4721 Itow, Y. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8198-1968 Jakob, J. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2220-1418 Joerg, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1719-3294 Kaminaga, Y. https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5424-2867 Kara, M. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5080-9446 Kavrigin, P. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1339-2419 Kazama, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6976-3693 Kharbanda, P. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8100-151X Kobayashi, M. https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7861-1284 Koke, D. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8887-5527 Kopec, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6548-0963 Landsman, H. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7570-5238 Lang, R.F. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7594-2746 Levinson, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4679-0485 Li, I. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6655-3685 Li, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0379-1111 Liang, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0116-654X Liang, Z. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3992-6299 Lin, Y.-T. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3631-1655 Lindemann, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4501-7231 Liu, K. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1437-5716 Liu, M. Loizeau, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6375-9768 Lombardi, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0229-4391 Long, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5617-7337 Lopes, J.A.M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6366-2963 Lucchetti, G.M. Luce, T. https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0423-1525 Ma, Y. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5227-675X Macolino, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2517-6574 Mahlstedt, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8514-2037 Mancuso, A. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2018-6095 Manenti, L. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7590-0175 Marignetti, F. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8776-4561 Marrodán Undagoitia, T. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9332-6074 Martens, K. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5049-3339 Masbou, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8089-8639 Mastroianni, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9467-0851 Melchiorre, A. https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0615-0204 Merz, J. https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1474-3585 Messina, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6475-7649 Michael, A. 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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2026 American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the 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. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords:	Nuclear and Plasma Physics; Particle and High Energy Physics; Quantum Physics; Physical Sciences
Dates:	Submitted: 16 June 2025 Accepted: 22 January 2026 Published (online): 23 March 2026 Published: 27 March 2026
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2026 13:30
Last Modified:	09 Apr 2026 13:30
Status:	Published
Publisher:	American Physical Society (APS)
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1103/2jm3-4976
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:239885

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Challenging spontaneous quantum collapse with the XENONnT dark matter detector

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