arXiv subjects

Xinning Zeng

Publications and source records attributed to Xinning Zeng.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Constraints on the axial-vector and pseudo-scalar mediated WIMP-nucleus interactions from PandaX-4T experiment

We present the constraints on the axial-vector and pseudo-scalar mediated WIMP-nucleus interactions from the PandaX-4T experiment, using the data set corresponding to a total exposure of 0.63~tonne$\cdot$year. No significant signal excess is observed, and the most stringent upper limits to date on the spin-dependent WIMP-neutron scattering cross section are set at 90\% confidence level with the minimum WIMP-neutron scattering cross section of 5.8$\times 10^{-42}$\si{\cm^{2}} for WIMP mass of 40~\si{\GeV/}$c^2$. Exclusion limits on the axial-vector and pseudo-scalar simplified models are also derived.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Measurement of Solar $pp$ Neutrino Flux using Electron Recoil Data from PandaX-4T Commissioning Run

The proton-proton ($pp$) fusion chain dominates the neutrino production from the Sun. The uncertainty of the predicted $pp$ neutrino flux is at the sub-percent level, whereas that of the best measurement is $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$. In this paper, we present the first result to measure the solar $pp$ neutrinos in the electron recoil energy range from 24 to 144 keV, using the PandaX-4T commissioning data with 0.63 tonne$\times$year exposure. The $pp$ neutrino flux is determined to be $(8.0 \pm 3.9 \,{\rm{(stat)}} \pm 10.0 \,{\rm{(syst)}} )\times 10^{10}\, $$\rm{s}^{-1} \rm{cm}^{-2}$, consistent with Standard Solar Model and existing measurements, corresponding to a flux upper limit of $23.3\times 10^{10}\, $$\rm{s}^{-1} \rm{cm}^{-2}$ at 90\% C.L..

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Signal Response Model in PandaX-4T

PandaX-4T experiment is a deep-underground dark matter direct search experiment that employs a dual-phase time projection chamber with a sensitive volume containing 3.7 tonne of liquid xenon. The detector of PandaX-4T is capable of simultaneously collecting the primary scintillation and ionization signals, utilizing their ratio to discriminate dark matter signals from background sources such as gamma rays and beta particles. The signal response model plays a crucial role in interpreting the data obtained by PandaX-4T. It describes the conversion from the deposited energy by dark matter interactions to the detectable signals within the detector. The signal response model is utilized in various PandaX-4T results. This work provides a comprehensive description of the procedures involved in constructing and parameter-fitting the signal response model for the energy range of approximately 1 keV to 25 keV for electronic recoils and 6 keV to 90 keV for nuclear recoils. It also covers the signal reconstruction, selection, and correction methods, which are crucial components integrated into the signal response model.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Waveform Simulation in PandaX-4T

Signal reconstruction through software processing is a crucial component of the background and signal models in the PandaX-4T experiment, which is a multi-tonne dark matter direct search experiment. The accuracy of signal reconstruction is influenced by various detector artifacts, including noise, dark count of photomultiplier, impurity photoionization in the detector, and other relevant considerations. In this study, we present a detailed description of a semi-data-driven approach designed to simulate the signal waveform. This work provides a reliable model for the efficiency and bias of the signal reconstruction in the data analysis of PandaX-4T. By comparing critical variables which relate to the temporal shape and hit pattern of the signals, we demonstrate a good agreement between the simulation and data.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Searching for Two-Neutrino and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of $^{134}$Xe with the PandaX-4T Experiment

$^{134}$Xe is a candidate isotope for neutrinoless double beta decay~($0νββ$) search. In addition, the two-neutrino case ($2νββ$) allowed by the Standard Model of particle physics has not yet been observed. Utilizing the 10.4% of $^{134}$Xe in the natural xenon in the PandaX-4T detector and its first 94.9-day exposure, we have established the most stringent constraints on $2νββ$ and $0νββ$ of $^{134}$Xe half-lives, with limits of $2.8\times10^{22}$ yr and $3.0\times10^{23}$ yr at 90% confidence level, respectively. The $2νββ$ ($0νββ$) limit surpasses the previously reported best result by a factor of 32 (2.7), highlighting the potential of large monolithic natural xenon detectors.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2024

Detecting Neutrinos from Supernova Bursts in PandaX-4T

Neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae are essential for the understanding of neutrino physics and stellar evolution. The dual-phase xenon dark matter detectors can provide a way to track explosions of galactic supernovae by detecting neutrinos through coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scatterings. In this study, a variation of progenitor masses as well as explosion models are assumed to predict the neutrino fluxes and spectra, which result in the number of expected neutrino events ranging from 6.6 to 13.7 at a distance of 10 kpc over a 10-second duration with negligible backgrounds at PandaX-4T. Two specialized triggering alarms for monitoring supernova burst neutrinos are built. The efficiency of detecting supernova explosions at various distances in the Milky Way is estimated. These alarms will be implemented in the real-time supernova monitoring system at PandaX-4T in the near future, providing the astronomical communities with supernova early warnings.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

Search for Dark-Matter-Nucleon Interactions with a Dark Mediator in PandaX-4T

We report results of a search for dark-matter-nucleon interactions via a dark mediator using optimized low-energy data from the PandaX-4T liquid xenon experiment. With the ionization-signal-only data and utilizing the Migdal effect, we set the most stringent limits on the cross section for dark matter masses ranging from 30~$\rm{MeV/c^2}$ to 2~$\rm{GeV/c^2}$. Under the assumption that the dark mediator is a dark photon that decays into scalar dark matter pairs in the early Universe, we rule out significant parameter space of such thermal relic dark-matter model.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

Search for light dark matter from atmosphere in PandaX-4T

We report a search for light dark matter produced through the cascading decay of $η$ mesons, which are created as a result of inelastic collisions between cosmic rays and Earth's atmosphere. We introduce a new and general framework, publicly accessible, designed to address boosted dark matter specifically, with which a full and dedicated simulation including both elastic and quasi-elastic processes of Earth attenuation effect on the dark matter particles arriving at the detector is performed. In the PandaX-4T commissioning data of 0.63 tonne$\cdot$year exposure, no significant excess over background is observed. The first constraints on the interaction between light dark matter generated in the atmosphere and nucleus through a light scalar mediator are obtained. The lowest excluded cross-section is set at $5.9 \times 10^{-37}{\rm cm^2}$ for dark matter mass of $0.1$ MeV$/c^2$ and mediator mass of 300 MeV$/c^2$. The lowest upper limit of $η$ to dark matter decay branching ratio is $1.6 \times 10^{-7}$.

hep-ex↗

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

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

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

Measurement of high-pressure xenon gas absorption in acrylic

Acrylic is a popular structural material in experiments requiring low background because of its radio-purity, machinability, and mechanical strength. However, its porosity may cause significant gas absorption and influence the detector stability in the long term. The interaction between acrylic and other detector materials becomes one of the key concerns in the detector design. In this paper, we carry out an experiment to measure quantitatively the absorption process of high-pressure xenon gas into acrylic. A specific setup is designed for the measurement, and systematic measurements are done to obtain a result of the absorption amount: 0.98 g xenon into 332 g of acrylic.

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

Slow Control System for PandaX-III experiment

The PandaX-III experiment uses high pressure gaseous time projection chamber to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. A modular slow control system~(SCS) has been designed to monitor all the critical parameters of the experiment. It ensures the proper operation of the experiment as well as to provide necessary information for data corrections. The main subsystems of the experiment will be constantly monitored by the data collection module of the SCS, which collects data from sensors and sends them to the centralized database. When an alarm message is generated by the anomaly detection module, it will be sent to an alert website and related on-call experts immediately. A demonstrator of the SCS has been built for the PandaX-III prototype detector. The long-term test of it provided valuable experience for the final design of the SCS for PandaX-III.

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