Search for Light Dark Matter in Low-Energy Ionization Signals from XENONnT
E. Aprile, J. Aalbers, K. Abe, S. Ahmed Maouloud, L. Althueser, B. Andrieu, E. Angelino, D. Antón Martin, F. Arneodo, L. Baudis, M. Bazyk, L. Bellagamba, R. Biondi, A. Bismark, K. Boese, A. Brown, G. Bruno, R. Budnik, C. Cai, C. Capelli, J. M. R. Cardoso, A. P. Cimental Chávez, A. P. Colijn, J. Conrad, J. J. Cuenca-García, V. D’Andrea, L. C. Daniel Garcia, M. P. Decowski, A. Deisting, C Di Donato, P. Di Gangi, S. Diglio, K. Eitel, S. el Morabit, A. Elykov, A. D. Ferella, C. Ferrari, H. Fischer, T Flehmke, M. Flierman, W. Fulgione, C. Fuselli, P. Gaemers, R. Gaïor, M. Galloway, F. Gao, S. Ghosh, R Giacomobono, R. Glade-Beucke, L. Grandi, J. Grigat, H. Guan, M. Guida, P Gyorgy, R. Hammann, A. Higuera, C. Hils, Luisa Hötzsch, N. F. Hood, M. Iacovacci, Y. Itow, J. Jakob, Florian Jörg, Y Kaminaga, M. Kara, P. Kavrigin, S. Kazama, M. Kobayashi, D Koke, A. Kopec, H. Landsman, R. F. Lang, L. J. Levinson, I. Li, S. Li, S. Liang, Y.-T. Lin, S. Lindemann, M. Lindner, K. Liu, Ming Liu, J. Loizeau, F. Lombardi, J. Long, J. A. M. Lopes, T.C. Luce, Y. Ma, C. Macolino, J. Mahlstedt, A. Mancuso, L. Manenti, Fabrizio Marignetti, T. Marrodán Undagoitia, K. Martens, J. Masbou, E. Masson, S. Mastroianni, A Melchiorre, Jon F. Merz, M. Messina
Abstract
We report on a blinded search for dark matter with single- and few-electron signals in the first science run of XENONnT relying on a novel detector response framework that is physics model dependent. We derive 90% confidence upper limits for dark matter-electron interactions. Heavy and light mediator cases are considered for the standard halo model and dark matter up-scattered in the Sun. We set stringent new limits on dark matter-electron scattering via a heavy mediator with a mass within 10-20 MeV/c^{2} and electron absorption of axionlike particles and dark photons for m_{χ} below 0.03 keV/c^{2}.