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First Direct Detection Limits on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from XENON10

Rouven Essig, Aaron Manalaysay, Jeremy Mardon, Peter Sorensen, and Tomer Volansky
Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 021301 – Published 12 July 2012
Physics logo See Synopsis: Turning from Nuclei to Electrons for Dark-Matter Detection

Abstract

The first direct detection limits on dark matter in the MeV to GeV mass range are presented, using XENON10 data. Such light dark matter can scatter with electrons, causing ionization of atoms in a detector target material and leading to single- or few-electron events. We use 15kgday of data acquired in 2006 to set limits on the dark-matter—electron scattering cross section. The strongest bound is obtained at 100 MeV where σe<3×1038cm2 at 90% C.L., while dark-matter masses between 20 MeV and 1 GeV are bounded by σe<1037cm2 at 90% C.L. This analysis provides a first proof of principle that direct detection experiments can be sensitive to dark-matter candidates with masses well below the GeV scale.

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  • Received 20 February 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.021301

© 2012 American Physical Society

Synopsis

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Turning from Nuclei to Electrons for Dark-Matter Detection

Published 12 July 2012

A new analysis shows that it is possible to look for dark-matter particles with mass far below 1 giga-electron-volt by using atomic ionization.

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Authors & Affiliations

Rouven Essig1,2,*, Aaron Manalaysay3,†, Jeremy Mardon4,‡, Peter Sorensen5,§, and Tomer Volansky6,∥

  • 1C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA
  • 2School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
  • 3Physics Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 4Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
  • 5Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, USA
  • 6Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel

  • *rouven.essig@stonybrook.edu
  • aaronm@physik.uzh.ch
  • jmardon@stanford.edu
  • §pfs@llnl.gov
  • tomerv@post.tau.ac.il

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Issue

Vol. 109, Iss. 2 — 13 July 2012

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