First WIMP Search Results from the XENONnT Experiment

by Daniel Wenz (University of Mainz, Germany)

Wednesday 22 Mar 2023, 14:30 → 16:30 Europe/Rome

Gran Sasso National Laboratory

A rich number of astrophysical and cosmological observations indicate the existence of a massive, non-luminous and non-baryonic matter component which is commonly referred to as dark matter (DM). One well motivated class of DM are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) which arise naturally from several beyond-Standard-model theories. 

The XENON dark matter project aims for the direct detection of WIMPs utilizing the concept of a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC), currently operating the 4th generation of XENON experiment, XENONnT, at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso underground laboratory. XENONnT was designed as a fast upgrade of its predecessor XENON1T, augmented by many new subsystems -- among them the world's first water Cherenkov neutron veto. The XENONnT TPC features a sensitive liquid xenon mass of 5.9 t and an unprecedented low background of intrinsic ⁸⁵Kr and ²²²Rn, leading to an electronic recoil background rate of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠$(15.8\pm1.3)$\,$\text{events}/(\text{t} \cdot \text{y} \cdot \text{keV})$ in the region of interest. 

In this seminar we will report on the first WIMP search results with the XENONnT experiment, conducted in a blind analysis in an energy range between 3.1 keV and 60.0 keV, and an exposure of approximately 1.1 tonne-year.

XENONnT_wimp_results_laquila2023.pdf