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Lin Si

Publications and source records attributed to Lin Si.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2023

A Search for Light Fermionic Dark Matter Absorption on Electrons in PandaX-4T

We report a search on a sub-MeV fermionic dark matter absorbed by electrons with an outgoing active neutrino using the 0.63 tonne-year exposure collected by PandaX-4T liquid xenon experiment. No significant signals are observed over the expected background. The data are interpreted into limits to the effective couplings between such dark matter and electrons. For axial-vector or vector interactions, our sensitivity is competitive in comparison to existing astrophysical bounds on the decay of such dark matter into photon final states. In particular, we present the first direct detection limits for an axial-vector (vector) interaction which are the strongest in the mass range from 25 to 45 (35 to 50) keV/c$^2$.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2023

A First Search for Solar $^8$B Neutrino in the PandaX-4T Experiment using Neutrino-Nucleus Coherent Scattering

A search for interactions from solar $^8$B neutrinos elastically scattering off xenon nuclei using PandaX-4T commissioning data is reported. The energy threshold of this search is further lowered compared with the previous search for dark matter, with various techniques utilized to suppress the background that emerges from data with the lowered threshold. A blind analysis is performed on the data with an effective exposure of 0.48 tonne$\cdot$year, and no significant excess of events is observed. Among results obtained using the neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering, our results give the best constraint on the solar $^8$B neutrino flux. We further provide a more stringent limit on the cross section between dark matter and nucleon in the mass range from 3 to 9 GeV/c$^2$.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2022

Measurement of Double Beta Decay Half-life of $^{136}$Xe with the PandaX-4T Detector

Precise measurement of two-neutrino double beta decay (DBD) half-life is an important step for the searches of Majorana neutrinos with neutrinoless double beta decay. We report the measurement of DBD half-life of $^{136}$Xe using the PandaX-4T dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with 3.7-tonne natural xenon and the first 94.9-day physics data release. The background model in the fiducial volume is well constrained in situ by events in the outer active region. With a $^{136}$Xe exposure of 15.5 kg-year, we establish the half-life as $2.27 \pm 0.03 (stat.)\pm 0.10 (syst.)\times 10^{21}$ years. This is the first DBD half-life measurement with natural xenon and demonstrates the physics capability of a large-scale liquid xenon TPC in the field of rare event searches.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2022

First search for the absorption of fermionic dark matter with the PandaX-4T experiment

Compared with the signature of dark matter elastic scattering off nuclei, the absorption of fermionic dark matter by nuclei opens up a new searching channel for light dark matter with a characteristic monoenergetic signal. In this Letter, we explore the $95.0$-day data from the PandaX-4T commissioning run and report the first dedicated searching results of the fermionic dark matter absorption signal through a neutral current process. No significant signal was found, and the lowest limit on the dark matter-nucleon interaction cross section is set to be $1.5\times10^{-50}$ cm$^2$ for a fermionic dark matter mass of $40$ MeV/$c^2$ with 90\% confidence level.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2022

Neutron-induced nuclear recoil background in the PandaX-4T experiment

Neutron-induced nuclear recoil background is critical to the dark matter searches in the PandaX-4T liquid xenon experiment. This paper studies the feature of neutron background in liquid xenon and evaluates their contribution in the single scattering nuclear recoil events through three methods. The first method is fully Monte Carlo simulation based. The last two are data-driven methods that also use the multiple scattering signals and high energy signals in the data, respectively. In the PandaX-4T commissioning data with an exposure of 0.63 tonne-year, all these methods give a consistent result that there are $1.15\pm0.57$ neutron-induced background in dark matter signal region within an approximated nuclear recoil energy window between 5 and 100 keV.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2022

Study of background from accidental coincidence signals in the PandaX-II experiment

The PandaX-II experiment employed a 580kg liquid xenon detector to search for the interactions between dark matter particles and the target xenon atoms. The accidental coincidences of isolated signals result in a dangerous background which mimic the signature of the dark matter. We performed a detailed study on the accidental coincidence background in PandaX-II, including the possible origin of the isolated signals, the background level and corresponding background suppression method. With a boosted-decision-tree algorithm, the accidental coincidence background is reduced by 70% in the dark matter signal region, thus the sensitivity of dark matter search at PandaX-II is improved.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2022

A search for two-component Majorana dark matter in a simplified model using the full exposure data of PandaX-II experiment

In the two-component Majorana dark matter model, one dark matter particle can scatter off the target nuclei, and turn into a slightly heavier component. In the framework of a simplified model with a vector boson mediator, both the tree-level and loop-level processes contribute to the signal in direct detection experiment. In this paper, we report the search results for such dark matter from PandaX-II experiment, using total data of the full 100.7 tonne$\cdot$day exposure. No significant excess is observed, so strong constraints on the combined parameter space of mediator mass and dark matter mass are derived. With the complementary search results from collider experiments, a large range of parameter space can be excluded.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2022

Low Radioactive Material Screening and Background Control for the PandaX-4T Experiment

PandaX-4T is a ton-scale dark matter direct detection experiment using a dual-phase TPC technique at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. Various ultra-low background technologies have been developed and applied to material screening for PandaX-4T, including HPGe gamma spectroscopy, ICP-MS, NAA, radon emanation measurement system, krypton assay station, and alpha detection system. Low background materials were selected to assemble the detector. Surface treatment procedures were investigated to further suppress radioactive background. Combining measured results and Monte Carlo simulation, the total material background rates of PandaX-4T in the energy region of 1-25 keV$\rm{}_{ee}$ are estimated to be (9.9 $\pm$ 1.9) $\times \ 10^{-3}$ mDRU for electron recoil and (2.8 $\pm$ 0.6) $\times \ 10^{-4}$ mDRU for nuclear recoil. In addition, $^{nat}$Kr in the detector is estimated to be <8 ppt.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2022

A Search for the Cosmic Ray Boosted Sub-GeV Dark Matter at the PandaX-II Experiment

We report a novel search for the cosmic ray boosted dark matter using the 100~tonne$\cdot$day full data set of the PandaX-II detector located at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. With the extra energy gained from the cosmic rays, sub-GeV dark matter particles can produce visible recoil signals in the detector. The diurnal modulations in rate and energy spectrum are utilized to further enhance the signal sensitivity. Our result excludes the dark matter-nucleon elastic scattering cross section between 10$^{-31}$cm$^{2}$ and 10$^{-28}$cm$^{2}$ for a dark matter masses from 0.1 MeV/$c^2$ to 0.1 GeV/$c^2$, with a large parameter space previously unexplored by experimental collaborations.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Dark Matter Search Results from the PandaX-4T Commissioning Run

We report the first dark matter search results using the commissioning data from PandaX-4T. Using a time projection chamber with 3.7-tonne of liquid xenon target and an exposure of 0.63 tonne$\cdot$year, 1058 candidate events are identified within an approximate nuclear recoil energy window between 5 and 100 keV. No significant excess over background is observed. Our data set a stringent limit to the dark matter-nucleon spin-independent interactions, with a lowest excluded cross section (90% C.L.) of $3.8\times10^{-47} $cm$^2$ at a dark matter mass of 30 GeV/$c^2$.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Light yield and field dependence measurement in PandaX-II dual-phase xenon detector

The dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) is one of the most sensitive detector technology for dark matter direct search, where the energy deposition of incoming particle can be converted into photons and electrons through xenon excitation and ionization. The detector response to signal energy deposition varies significantly with the electric field in liquid xenon. We study the detector's light yield and its dependence on the electric field in the PandaX-II dual-phase detector containing 580~kg liquid xenon in the sensitive volume. From our measurements, the light yield at electric fields from 0~V/cm to 317~V/cm is obtained for energy depositions up to 236~keV.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2021

A search for solar axions and anomalous neutrino magnetic moment with the complete PandaX-II data

We report a search for new physics signals using the low energy electron recoil events in the complete data set from PandaX-II, in light of the recent event excess reported by XENON1T. The data correspond to a total exposure of 100.7 ton-day with liquid xenon. With robust estimates of the dominant background spectra, we perform sensitive searches on solar axions and neutrinos with enhanced magnetic moment. We find that the axion-electron coupling $g_{Ae}<4.6\times 10^{-12}$ for an axion mass less than $\rm 0.1~keV/c^2$ and the neutrino magnetic moment $μ_ν<4.9\times 10^{-11}μ_{B}$ at 90% confidence level. The observed excess from XENON1T is within our experimental constraints.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Constraining self-interacting dark matter with the full dataset of PandaX-II

Self-interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) is a leading candidate proposed to solve discrepancies between predictions of the prevailing cold dark matter theory and observations of galaxies. Many SIDM models predict the existence of a light force carrier that mediate strong dark matter self-interactions. If the mediator couples to the standard model particles, it could produce characteristic signals in dark matter direct detection experiments. We report searches for SIDM models with a light mediator using the full dataset of the PandaX-II experiment, based on a total exposure of 132 tonne-days. No significant excess over background is found, and our likelihood analysis leads to a strong upper limit on the dark matter-nucleon coupling strength. We further combine the PandaX-II constraints and those from observations of the light element abundances in the early universe, and show that direct detection and cosmological probes can provide complementary constraints on dark matter models with a light mediator.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Horizontal Position Reconstruction in PandaX-II

Dual-phase noble-gas time projection chambers (TPCs) have improved the sensitivities for dark matter direct search in past decades. The capability of TPCs to reconstruct 3-D vertexes of keV scale recoilings is one of the most advantageous features. In this work, we develop two horizontal position reconstruction algorithms for the PandaX-II dark matter search experiment using the dual-phase liquid xenon TPC. Both algorithms are optimized by the $^{83m}$Kr calibration events and use photon distribution of ionization signals among photomultiplier tubes to infer the positions. According to the events coming from the gate electrode, the uncertainties in the horizontal positions are 3.4 mm (3.9 mm) in the analytical (simulation-based) algorithm for an ionization signal with several thousand photon electrons in the center of the TPC

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2021

Search for Light Dark Matter-Electron Scatterings in the PandaX-II Experiment

We report constraints on light dark matter through its interactions with shell electrons in the PandaX-II liquid xenon detector with a total 46.9 tonne$\cdot$day exposure. To effectively search for these very low energy electron recoils, ionization-only signals are selected from the data. 1821 candidates are identified within ionization signal range between 50 to 75 photoelectrons, corresponding to a mean electronic recoil energy from 0.08 to 0.15 keV. The 90% C.L. exclusion limit on the scattering cross section between the dark matter and electron is calculated based on Poisson statistics. Under the assumption of point interaction, we provide the world's most stringent limit within the dark matter mass range from 15 to 30 $\rm MeV/c^2$, with the corresponding cross section from $2.5\times10^{-37}$ to $3.1\times10^{-38}$ cm$^2$.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Determination of responses of liquid xenon to low energy electron and nuclear recoils using the PandaX-II detector

We report a systematic determination of the responses of PandaX-II, a dual phase xenon time projection chamber detector, to low energy recoils. The electron recoil (ER) and nuclear recoil (NR) responses are calibrated, respectively, with injected tritiated methane or $^{220}$Rn source, and with $^{241}$Am-Be neutron source, within an energy range from $1-25$ keV (ER) and $4-80$ keV (NR), under the two drift fields of 400 and 317 V/cm. An empirical model is used to fit the light yield and charge yield for both types of recoils. The best fit models can well describe the calibration data. The systematic uncertainties of the fitted models are obtained via statistical comparison against the data.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2021

Internal Calibration of the PandaX-II Detector with Radon Gaseous Sources

We have developed a low-energy electron recoil (ER) calibration method with $^{220}$Rn for the PandaX-II detector. $^{220}$Rn, emanated from natural thorium compounds, was fed into the detector through the xenon purification system. From 2017 to 2019, we performed three dedicated calibration campaigns with different radon sources. We studied the detector response to $α$, $β$, and $γ$ particles with focus on low energy ER events. During the runs in 2017 and 2018, the amount of radioactivity of $^{222}$Rn were on the order of 1\% of that of $^{220}$Rn and thorium particulate contamination was negligible, especially in 2018. We also measured the background contribution from $^{214}$Pb for the first time in PandaX-II with the help from a $^{222}$Rn injection. Calibration strategy with $^{220}$Rn and $^{222}$Rn will be implemented in the upcoming PandaX-4T experiment and can be useful for other xenon-based detectors as well.

physics.ins-det↗