Search for Two-Neutrino Double Electron Capture of ${}^{124}$Xe with XENON100

Abstract

Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For ${}^{124}$Xe this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K-shell of ${}^{124}$Xe using 7636 kg$\cdot$d of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading to a lower 90 % credibility limit on the half-life $T_{1/2}>6.5\times 10^{20}$ yr. We also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is currently being commissioned, and find a sensitivity of $T_{1/2}>6.1\times 10^{22}$ yr after an exposure of 2 t$\cdot$yr.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (23)

• A Unified Approach to the Classical Statistical Analysis of Small Signals
• Dark Matter Results from 225 Live Days of XENON100 Data
• Physics reach of the XENON1T dark matter experiment
• DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector
• The XENON100 Dark Matter Experiment
• Limits on spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections from 225 live days of XENON100 data
• BAT - The Bayesian Analysis Toolkit
• NEST: A Comprehensive Model for Scintillation Yield in Liquid Xenon
• First Axion Results from the XENON100 Experiment
• Neutrino-less Double Electron Capture - a tool to research for Majorana neutrinos
• Resonance enhancement of neutrinoless double electron capture
• Observation of Anti-correlation between Scintillation and Ionization for MeV Gamma-Rays in Liquid Xenon
• Exclusion of Leptophilic Dark Matter Models using XENON100 Electronic Recoil Data
• The strength of the analog and Gamow-Teller giant resonances and hindrance of the 2νββ-decay rate
• Analysis of the XENON100 Dark Matter Search Data
• Nuclear deformation and the two neutrino double-βdecay in ^{124,126}Xe,^{128,130}Te, ^{130,132}Ba and ^{150}Nd isotopes
• Search for Event Rate Modulation in XENON100 Electronic Recoil Data
• Neutrinoless double electron capture
• p-Values for Model Evaluation
• Double beta decay searches of Xe-134, Xe-126 and Xe-124 with large scale Xe detectors
• Calculation of nuclear matrix elements in neutrinoless double electron capture
• Search for two-neutrino double electron capture on ${}^{124}$Xe with the XMASS-I detector
• Measuring Double-Electron Capture with Liquid Xenon Experiments

Cited by in corpus (10)

• First observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in ${}^{124}$Xe with XENON1T
• Neutrinoless Double-Electron Capture
• Double-Weak Decays of ${}^{124}$Xe and ${}^{136}$Xe in the XENON1T and XENONnT Experiments
• Two-neutrino double electron capture on ${}^{124}$Xe based on an effective theory and the nuclear shell model
• Improved search for two-neutrino double electron capture on ${}^{124}$Xe and ${}^{126}$Xe using particle identification in XMASS-I
• Two-neutrino double electron capture of ${}^{124}$Xe in the first LUX-ZEPLIN exposure
• Search for two neutrino double electron capture of ${}^{124}$Xe and ${}^{126}$Xe in the full exposure of the LUX detector
• Secondary scintillation yield of Xenon with sub-percent levels of CO2 additive: efficiently reducing electron diffusion in HPXe optical TPCs for rare-event detection
• Large-scale shell-model study of 2$\nu$ECEC process in ${}^{78}$Kr
• Large-scale shell-model investigation of $2\nu$ECEC in ${}^{132}$Ba and ${}^{78}$Kr