First Constraint on Atmospheric Millicharged Particles with the LUX-ZEPLIN Experiment

Physical Review Letters American Physical Society (APS) 134:24 (2025) 241802

Authors:

J Aalbers, DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, TJ Anderson, N Angelides, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, A Baker, S Balashov, J Bang, JW Bargemann, EE Barillier, D Bauer, K Beattie, T Benson, A Bhatti, A Biekert, TP Biesiadzinski, HJ Birch, E Bishop, GM Blockinger, B Boxer, CAJ Brew, P Brás, S Burdin, M Buuck, MC Carmona-Benitez, M Carter, A Chawla, H Chen, JJ Cherwinka, YT Chin, NI Chott, MV Converse, R Coronel, A Cottle, G Cox, D Curran, CE Dahl, I Darlington, S Dave, A David, J Delgaudio, S Dey, L de Viveiros, L Di Felice, C Ding, JEY Dobson, E Druszkiewicz, S Dubey, SR Eriksen, A Fan, S Fayer, NM Fearon, N Fieldhouse, S Fiorucci, H Flaecher, ED Fraser, TMA Fruth, RJ Gaitskell, A Geffre, J Genovesi, C Ghag, A Ghosh, R Gibbons, S Gokhale, J Green, MGD van der Grinten, JJ Haiston, CR Hall, TJ Hall, S Han, E Hartigan-O’Connor, SJ Haselschwardt, MA Hernandez, SA Hertel, G Heuermann, GJ Homenides, M Horn, DQ Huang, D Hunt, E Jacquet, RS James, J Johnson, AC Kaboth, AC Kamaha, M Kannichankandy, D Khaitan, A Khazov, I Khurana, J Kim, YD Kim, J Kingston, R Kirk, D Kodroff, L Korley, EV Korolkova, H Kraus, S Kravitz, L Kreczko, VA Kudryavtsev, C Lawes, DS Leonard, KT Lesko, C Levy, J Lin, A Lindote, WH Lippincott, MI Lopes, W Lorenzon, C Lu, S Luitz, PA Majewski, A Manalaysay, RL Mannino, C Maupin, ME McCarthy, G McDowell, DN McKinsey, J McLaughlin, JB McLaughlin, R McMonigle, E Mizrachi, A Monte, ME Monzani, JD Morales Mendoza, E Morrison, BJ Mount, M Murdy, A St J Murphy, A Naylor, HN Nelson, F Neves, A Nguyen, CL O’Brien, I Olcina, KC Oliver-Mallory, J Orpwood, KY Oyulmaz, KJ Palladino, J Palmer, NJ Pannifer, N Parveen, SJ Patton, B Penning, G Pereira, E Perry, T Pershing, A Piepke, Y Qie, J Reichenbacher, CA Rhyne, A Richards, Q Riffard, GRC Rischbieter, E Ritchey, HS Riyat, R Rosero, T Rushton, D Rynders, D Santone, ABMR Sazzad, RW Schnee, G Sehr, B Shafer, S Shaw, T Shutt, JJ Silk, C Silva, G Sinev, J Siniscalco, R Smith, VN Solovov, P Sorensen, J Soria, I Stancu, A Stevens, K Stifter, B Suerfu, TJ Sumner, M Szydagis, DR Tiedt, M Timalsina, Z Tong, DR Tovey, J Tranter, M Trask, M Tripathi, A Usón, A Vacheret, AC Vaitkus, O Valentino, V Velan, A Wang, JJ Wang, Y Wang, JR Watson, L Weeldreyer, TJ Whitis, K Wild, M Williams, WJ Wisniewski, L Wolf, FLH Wolfs, S Woodford, D Woodward, CJ Wright, Q Xia, J Xu, Y Xu, M Yeh, D Yeum, W Zha, H Zhang, EA Zweig

Abstract:

We report on a search for millicharged particles (mCPs) produced in cosmic ray atmospheric interactions using data collected during the first science run of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. The mCPs produced by two processes—meson decay and proton bremsstrahlung—are considered in this study. This search utilized a novel signature unique to liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chambers, allowing sensitivity to mCPs with masses ranging from 10 to 1000MeV/c2 and fractional charges between 0.001 and 0.02 of the electron charge (e). With an exposure of 60 live days and a 5.5 metric ton fiducial mass, we observed no significant excess over background. This represents the first experimental search for atmospheric mCPs and the first search for mCPs using an underground LXe experiment. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Neutrinoless double beta decay sensitivity of the XLZD rare event observatory

Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics IOP Publishing 52:4 (2025) 045102

Authors:

J Aalbers, K Abe, M Adrover, S Ahmed Maouloud, DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, L Althueser, DWP Amaral, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, B Andrieu, N Angelides, E Angelino, B Antunovic, E Aprile, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, M Babicz, A Baker, M Balzer, J Bang, E Barberio

Abstract:

The XLZD collaboration is developing a two-phase xenon time projection chamber with an active mass of 60–80 t capable of probing the remaining weakly interacting massive particle-nucleon interaction parameter space down to the so-called neutrino fog. In this work we show that, based on the performance of currently operating detectors using the same technology and a realistic reduction of radioactivity in detector materials, such an experiment will also be able to competitively search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe using a natural-abundance xenon target. XLZD can reach a 3σ discovery potential half-life of 5.7 × 1027 years (and a 90% CL exclusion of 1.3 × 1028 years) with 10 years of data taking, corresponding to a Majorana mass range of 7.3–31.3 meV (4.8–20.5 meV). XLZD will thus exclude the inverted neutrino mass ordering parameter space and will start to probe the normal ordering region for most of the nuclear matrix elements commonly considered by the community.

Electronic structure, reflectivity and X-ray luminescence of MAPbCl 3 crystal in orthorhombic phase

Scientific Reports Nature Research 15:1 (2025) 12912

Authors:

Volodymyr Kolomiets, Volodymyr Kapustianyk, Mariya Kovalenko, Hans Kraus, Oksana Chukova, Yaroslav Zhydachevskyy, Wagas Zia, Michael Saliba, Vitaliy Mykhaylyk

Abstract:

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the electronic structure, reflectivity, and luminescent spectra of the organic-inorganic, metal-halide MAPbCl3 perovskite, which has considerable potential for various optoelectronic applications. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we investigated the electronic structure of MAPbCl3 and interpreted the key features of its reflectivity spectra across a wide energy range from 3 to 10 eV. The reflectivity spectra reveal prominent excitonic features at 3.22 eV near the absorption edge and additional optical transitions at higher energies, highlighting the material’s intricate electronic structure. Furthermore, we examined the temperature dependence of radiative decay dynamics under high-energy radiation through X-ray luminescence spectra and decay time measurements. We observe emission from free and bound excitons with an exceptionally short decay time (≤ 1 ns) and significant thermal quenching at low temperatures (100 K) in the 385–430 nm range. These findings underline the importance of continued exploration of optoelectronic properties of the material to enhance its performance in practical applications.

Transforming a rare event search into a not-so-rare event search in real-time with deep learning-based object detection

Physical Review D American Physical Society (APS) 111:7 (2025) 072004

Authors:

J Schueler, HM Araújo, SN Balashov, JE Borg, C Brew, FM Brunbauer, C Cazzaniga, A Cottle, CD Frost, F Garcia, D Hunt, AC Kaboth, M Kastriotou, I Katsioulas, A Khazov, P Knights, H Kraus, VA Kudryavtsev, S Lilley, A Lindote, M Lisowska, D Loomba, MI Lopes, E Lopez Asamar, P Luna Dapica, PA Majewski, T Marley, C McCabe, L Millins, AF Mills, M Nakhostin, R Nandakumar, T Neep, F Neves, K Nikolopoulos, E Oliveri, L Ropelewski, VN Solovov, TJ Sumner, J Tarrant, E Tilly, R Turnley, R Veenhof

Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity.

Physical review letters 134:6 (2025) 061002

Authors:

DS Akerib, S Alsum, HM Araújo, X Bai, J Balajthy, J Bang, A Baxter, EP Bernard, A Bernstein, TP Biesiadzinski, EM Boulton, B Boxer, P Brás, S Burdin, D Byram, MC Carmona-Benitez, C Chan, JE Cutter, L de Viveiros, E Druszkiewicz, A Fan, S Fiorucci, RJ Gaitskell, C Ghag, MGD Gilchriese, C Gwilliam, CR Hall, SJ Haselschwardt, SA Hertel, DP Hogan, M Horn, DQ Huang, CM Ignarra, RG Jacobsen, O Jahangir, W Ji, K Kamdin, K Kazkaz, D Khaitan, EV Korolkova, S Kravitz, VA Kudryavtsev, E Leason, KT Lesko, J Liao, J Lin, A Lindote, MI Lopes, A Manalaysay, RL Mannino, N Marangou, DN McKinsey, D-M Mei, JA Morad, A St J Murphy, A Naylor, C Nehrkorn, HN Nelson, F Neves, A Nilima, KC Oliver-Mallory, KJ Palladino, C Rhyne, Q Riffard, GRC Rischbieter, P Rossiter, S Shaw, TA Shutt, C Silva, M Solmaz, VN Solovov, P Sorensen, TJ Sumner, N Swanson, M Szydagis, DJ Taylor, R Taylor, WC Taylor, BP Tennyson, PA Terman, DR Tiedt, WH To, L Tvrznikova, U Utku, A Vacheret, A Vaitkus, V Velan, RC Webb, JT White, TJ Whitis, MS Witherell, FLH Wolfs, D Woodward, X Xiang, J Xu, C Zhang

Abstract:

Dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) detectors offer heightened sensitivities for dark matter detection across a spectrum of particle masses. To broaden their capability to low-mass dark matter interactions, we investigated the light and charge responses of liquid xenon (LXe) to sub-keV nuclear recoils. Using neutron events from a pulsed Adelphi Deuterium-Deuterium neutron generator, an in situ calibration was conducted on the LUX detector. We demonstrate direct measurements of light and charge yields down to 0.45 and 0.27 keV, respectively, both approaching single quanta production, the physical limit of LXe detectors. These results hold significant implications for the future of dual-phase xenon TPCs in detecting low-mass dark matter via nuclear recoils.