First Search for Light Dark Matter in the Neutrino Fog with 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, Ce 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, L Hoetzsch, N. F. Hood, M. Iacovacci, Y. Itow, J. Jakob, F Joerg, Y Kaminaga, M. Kara, P. Kavrigin, S. Kazama, M. Kobayashi, D Koke, A. Kopec, H. Landsman, R. F. Lang, L. 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 search for dark matter (DM) with a mass [3,12] GeV/c^{2} using an exposure of 3.51 tonne year with the XENONnT experiment. We consider spin-independent DM-nucleon interactions mediated by a heavy or light mediator, spin-dependent DM-neutron interactions, momentum-dependent DM scattering, and mirror DM. Using a lowered energy threshold compared to the previous weakly interacting massive particle search, a blind analysis of [0.5, 5.0] keV nuclear recoil events reveals no significant signal excess over the background. XENONnT excludes spin-independent DM-nucleon cross sections >2.5×10^{-45} cm^{2} at 90% confidence level for 6 GeV/c^{2} DM. In the considered mass range, the DM sensitivity approaches the "neutrino fog," the limitation where neutrinos produce a signal that is indistinguishable from that of light DM-xenon nucleus scattering.