2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Enhancing the direct search for dark matter in the XENON nT experiment with a water Cerenkov neutron detector
| Project/Area Number |
19H00675
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
MARTENS Kai 東京大学, カブリ数物連携宇宙研究機構, 准教授 (20535025)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
竹田 敦 東京大学, 宇宙線研究所, 准教授 (40401286)
伊藤 好孝 名古屋大学, 宇宙地球環境研究所, 教授 (50272521)
身内 賢太朗 神戸大学, 理学研究科, 准教授 (80362440)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | dark matter / neutron veto / water Cherenkov |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Our XENONnT (XnT) experiment's first physics results were published in FY2022. Our paper on the double-weak processes of two-neutrino double-electron capture in 124Xe and neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe yielded became an Editor's Suggestion in PRC, improving in particular the 124Xe lifetime measurement based on our 7 sigma signal.
Following up on the published XENON1t electron recoil (ER) signal our XENONnT ER PRL demonstrates XnT's leadership in cleanliness by eliminating any new physics explanation of the X1T signal - while showing that at the lowest energies XnT is clearly leading the world among the current generation of liquid xenon (LXe) experiments.
XnT's nuclear recoil (NR) publication, an "Editor's Suggestion", "Featured in Physics", and published in PRL back-to-back with the first LZ NR results, our main competitor's. So far our NR publication is the only one adhering to the agreed upon industry standard: To only publish results derived from blind analyses.
Despite the fact that our XENON collaboration is still contemplating access to XnT's time projection chamber, which would result in the loss of all ultra-pure gadolinium sulfate octahydrate already dissolved in XnT's veto counter systems, we also successfully demonstrated this first application of Kamioka's technology in a neutron veto for dark matter searches, albeit at currently only 10% of the target concentration - nonetheless a resounding success that will be detailed in a forthcoming instrument paper.
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| Research Progress Status |
令和4年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
令和4年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。
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