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.

arXiv comment10 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (25)

• First results from the LUX dark matter experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility
• Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure
• Improved Limits on Scattering of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles from Reanalysis of 2013 LUX data
• The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) Experiment
• Results on the Spin-Dependent Scattering of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles on Nucleons from the Run 3 Data of the LUX Experiment
• Simultaneous Measurement of Ionization and Scintillation from Nuclear Recoils in Liquid Xenon as Target for a Dark Matter Experiment
• Scintillation efficiency and ionization yield of liquid xenon for mono-energetic nuclear recoils down to 4 keV
• Two-Phase Emission Detector for Measuring Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
• Tritium calibration of the LUX dark matter experiment
• Neutrino physics with multi-ton scale liquid xenon detectors
• 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
• Enhancement of NEST Capabilities for Simulating Low-Energy Recoils in Liquid Xenon
• Nuclear recoil energy scale in liquid xenon with application to the direct detection of dark matter
• The scintillation and ionization yield of liquid xenon for nuclear recoils
• Nuclear recoil scintillation and ionisation yields in liquid xenon from ZEPLIN-III data
• Measurement of single electron emission in two-phase xenon
• Signal yields, energy resolution, and recombination fluctuations in liquid xenon
• Response of liquid xenon to Compton electrons down to 1.5 keV
• Measurement of the Scintillation Yield of Low-Energy Electrons in Liquid Xenon
• Performance and Fundamental Processes at Low Energy in a Two-Phase Liquid Xenon Dark Matter Detector
• Data Acquisition and Readout System for the LUX Dark Matter Experiment
• Gamma Ray Spectroscopy with Scintillation Light in Liquid Xenon
• Measurement of light and charge yield of low-energy electronic recoils in liquid xenon
• Measurements of wavelength-dependent double photoelectron emission from single photons in VUV-sensitive photomultiplier tubes

Cited by in corpus (42)

• Dark Matter Search Results from a One Tonne$\times$Year Exposure of XENON1T
• First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment
• Light Dark Matter Search with Ionization Signals in XENON1T
• Search for Light Dark Matter Interactions Enhanced by the Migdal effect or Bremsstrahlung in XENON1T
• A Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics
• Directly detecting sub-GeV dark matter with electrons from nuclear scattering
• On the relation between Migdal effect and dark matter-electron scattering in isolated atoms and semiconductors
• Search for Light Dark Matter-Electron Scatterings in the PandaX-II Experiment
• Emission of Single and Few Electrons in XENON1T and Limits on Light Dark Matter
• Electron Ionization via Dark Matter-Electron Scattering and the Migdal Effect
• New limits on dark photons from solar emission and keV scale dark matter
• Search for light dark matter with ionization signals in the PandaX-4T Experiment
• XENON1T Dark Matter Data Analysis: Signal & Background Models, and Statistical Inference
• Investigation of background electron emission in the LUX detector
• Solar Reflection of Dark Matter
• Inverse Primakoff Scattering as a Probe of Solar Axions at Liquid Xenon Direct Detection Experiments
• 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
• Search for annual and diurnal rate modulations in the LUX experiment
• Calibration, event reconstruction, data analysis and limits calculation for the LUX dark matter experiment
• Simulations of Events for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Experiment
• Background Determination for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Experiment
• Direct Detection of Dark Matter -- APPEC Committee Report
• Extending light WIMP searches to single scintillation photons in LUX
• Improving sensitivity to low-mass dark matter in LUX using a novel electrode background mitigation technique
• Measurement of Charge and Light Yields for ${}^{127}$Xe L-Shell Electron Captures in Liquid Xenon
• A Review of NEST Models for Liquid Xenon and Exhaustive Comparison to Other Approaches
• Correlated Single- and Few-Electron Backgrounds Milliseconds after Interactions in Dual-Phase Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chambers
• First direct detection constraint on mirror dark matter kinetic mixing using LUX 2013 data
• Improved Measurements of the \b{eta}-Decay Response of Liquid Xenon with the LUX Detector
• Internal Calibration of the PandaX-II Detector with Radon Gaseous Sources
• Cosmogenic production of ${}^{37}$Ar in the context of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment
• Prospects of charge signal analyses in liquid xenon TPCs with proportional scintillation in the liquid phase
• XENONnT WIMP Search: Signal & Background Modeling and Statistical Inference
• Search for two neutrino double electron capture of ${}^{124}$Xe and ${}^{126}$Xe in the full exposure of the LUX detector
• Measurements and models of enhanced recombination following inner-shell vacancies in liquid xenon
• Nuclear Recoil Calibration at Sub-keV Energies in LUX and Its Impact on Dark Matter Search Sensitivity
• Feasibility of Liquid-phase Xenon Proportional Scintillation for Low-energy Physics
• Electron-ion recombination in composite interactions in liquid xenon
• Development of a ${}^{127}$Xe calibration source for nEXO
• A flexible test facility for liquid xenon detector development
• Observing the Migdal effect from nuclear recoils of neutral particles with liquid xenon and argon detectors