Ultra-Low Energy Calibration of LUX Detector using ${}^{127}$Xe Electron Capture

Abstract

We report an absolute calibration of the ionization yields($\textit{Q$_y$})$ and fluctuations for electronic recoil events in liquid xenon at discrete energies between 186 eV and 33.2 keV. The average electric field applied across the liquid xenon target is 180 V/cm. The data are obtained using low energy ${}^{127}$Xe electron capture decay events from the 95.0-day first run from LUX (WS2013) in search of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The sequence of gamma-ray and X-ray cascades associated with ${}^{127}$I de-excitations produces clearly identified 2-vertex events in the LUX detector. We observe the K- (binding energy, 33.2 keV), L- (5.2 keV), M- (1.1 keV), and N- (186 eV) shell cascade events and verify that the relative ratio of observed events for each shell agrees with calculations. The N-shell cascade analysis includes single extracted electron (SE) events and represents the lowest-energy electronic recoil $\text{in situ}$ measurements that have been explored in liquid xenon.

10 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

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• Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure
• The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) Experiment
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• Radiogenic and Muon-Induced Backgrounds in the LUX Dark Matter Detector
• Observation of Anti-correlation between Scintillation and Ionization for MeV Gamma-Rays in Liquid Xenon
• Nuclear recoil energy scale in liquid xenon with application to the direct detection of dark matter
• Measurement of single electron emission in two-phase xenon
• Signal yields, energy resolution, and recombination fluctuations in liquid xenon
• Performance and Fundamental Processes at Low Energy in a Two-Phase Liquid Xenon Dark Matter Detector
• Gamma Ray Spectroscopy with Scintillation Light in Liquid Xenon

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• XENON1T Dark Matter Data Analysis: Signal & Background Models, and Statistical Inference
• Solar Reflection of Dark Matter
• A search for new physics in low-energy electron recoils from the first LZ exposure
• A Review of Basic Energy Reconstruction Techniques in Liquid Xenon and Argon Detectors for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics Using NEST
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• Direct Detection of Dark Matter -- APPEC Committee Report
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• Measurement of Charge and Light Yields for ${}^{127}$Xe L-Shell Electron Captures in Liquid Xenon
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• XENONnT WIMP Search: Signal & Background Modeling and Statistical Inference
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