Improving sensitivity to low-mass dark matter in LUX using a novel electrode background mitigation technique

Autor: Collaboration, LUX, Akerib, DS, Alsum, S, Araújo, HM, Bai, X, Balajthy, J, Bang, J, Baxter, A, Bernard, EP, Bernstein, A, Biesiadzinski, TP, Boulton, EM, Boxer, B, Brás, P, Burdin, S, Byram, D, Carmona-Benitez, MC, Chan, C, Cutter, JE, Viveiros, LD, Druszkiewicz, E, Fan, A, Fiorucci, S, Gaitskell, RJ, Ghag, C, Gilchriese, MGD, Gwilliam, C, Hall, CR, Haselschwardt, SJ, Hertel, SA, Hogan, DP, Horn, M, Huang, DQ, Ignarra, CM, Jacobsen, RG, Jahangir, O, Ji, W, Kamdin, K, Kazkaz, K, Khaitan, D, Korolkova, EV, Kravitz, S, Kudryavtsev, VA, Leason, E, Lenardo, BG, Lesko, KT, Liao, J, Lin, J, Lindote, A, Lopes, MI, Manalaysay, A, Mannino, RL, Marangou, N, McKinsey, DN, Mei, D-M, Morad, JA, Murphy, ASJ, Naylor, A, Nehrkorn, C, Nelson, HN, Neves, F, Nilima, A, Oliver-Mallory, KC, Palladino, KJ, Rhyne, C, Riffard, Q, Rischbieter, GRC, Rossiter, P, Shaw, S, Shutt, TA, Silva, C, Solmaz, M, Solovov, VN, Sorensen, P, Sumner, TJ, Swanson, N, Szydagis, M, Taylor, DJ, Taylor, R, Taylor, WC, Tennyson, BP, Terman, PA, Tiedt, DR, To, WH, Tvrznikova, L, Utku, U, Vacheret, A, Vaitkus, A, Velan, V, Webb, RC, White, JT, Whitis, TJ, Witherell, MS, Wolfs, FLH, Woodward, D, Xiang, X, Xu, J, Zhang, C
Přispěvatelé: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Active target
Novel technique
Wire grid
Particle physics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Dark matter
FOS: Physical sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Atomic
01 natural sciences
High Energy Physics - Experiment
Physics
Particles & Fields

High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
Particle and Plasma Physics
Low energy
Ionization
0103 physical sciences
Nuclear
Sensitivity (control systems)
010306 general physics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
physics.ins-det
Physics
Quantum Physics
Science & Technology
010308 nuclear & particles physics
hep-ex
Molecular
Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
Nuclear & Particles Physics
Physical Sciences
astro-ph.CO
Low Mass
Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Astronomical and Space Sciences
Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
astro-ph.IM
Zdroj: Physical Review D, vol 104, iss 1
arXiv
Physical Review
Popis: This paper presents a novel technique for mitigating electrode backgrounds that limit the sensitivity of searches for low-mass dark matter (DM) using xenon time projection chambers. In the LUX detector, signatures of low-mass DM interactions would be very low energy ($\sim$keV) scatters in the active target that ionize only a few xenon atoms and seldom produce detectable scintillation signals. In this regime, extra precaution is required to reject a complex set of low-energy electron backgrounds that have long been observed in this class of detector. Noticing backgrounds from the wire grid electrodes near the top and bottom of the active target are particularly pernicious, we develop a machine learning technique based on ionization pulse shape to identify and reject these events. We demonstrate the technique can improve Poisson limits on low-mass DM interactions by a factor of $2$-$7$ with improvement depending heavily on the size of ionization signals. We use the technique on events in an effective $5$ tonne$\cdot$day exposure from LUX's 2013 science operation to place strong limits on low-mass DM particles with masses in the range $m_{\chi}\in0.15$-$10$ GeV. This machine learning technique is expected to be useful for near-future experiments, such as LZ and XENONnT, which hope to perform low-mass DM searches with the stringent background control necessary to make a discovery.
Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures
Databáze: OpenAIRE