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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05850 |
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| _version_ | 1866915661741031424 |
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| author | An, Haipeng Gao, Fei Liu, Jia Liu, Minghao Nie, Haoming Xu, Changlong |
| author_facet | An, Haipeng Gao, Fei Liu, Jia Liu, Minghao Nie, Haoming Xu, Changlong |
| contents | We investigate a possible dark matter origin of the high-energy nuclear-recoil-like events in XENONnT and LZ data, which cannot be explained by standard elastic spin-independent WIMP scattering. Using our unified DIAMX framework, built on openly available data and likelihood models, we perform the first combined profile-likelihood fits to multiple WIMP-search datasets with a total exposure of 7.3 tonne$\times$year. We investigate that two broad classes of dark matter nucleon interactions, with velocity-dependent cross-section or inelastic (endo- and exothermic) scattering, can reproduce the observed high-energy recoil spectrum, reaching local significances up to $4σ$. We further quantify the impact of $^{124}$Xe double electron capture (DEC) backgrounds, finding that variations in the poorly known DEC charge yields can shift the inferred significances from below $1σ$ to $4σ$. We point out that extending the same analysis to XENONnT and LZ data with recoil energies up to 300 keV, once available, will provide a powerful test of the dark matter interpretation, since the $^{124}$Xe DEC background is expected to be negligible in this high-energy range. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_05850 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Dark matter implications from the XENONnT and LZ data An, Haipeng Gao, Fei Liu, Jia Liu, Minghao Nie, Haoming Xu, Changlong High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Experiment We investigate a possible dark matter origin of the high-energy nuclear-recoil-like events in XENONnT and LZ data, which cannot be explained by standard elastic spin-independent WIMP scattering. Using our unified DIAMX framework, built on openly available data and likelihood models, we perform the first combined profile-likelihood fits to multiple WIMP-search datasets with a total exposure of 7.3 tonne$\times$year. We investigate that two broad classes of dark matter nucleon interactions, with velocity-dependent cross-section or inelastic (endo- and exothermic) scattering, can reproduce the observed high-energy recoil spectrum, reaching local significances up to $4σ$. We further quantify the impact of $^{124}$Xe double electron capture (DEC) backgrounds, finding that variations in the poorly known DEC charge yields can shift the inferred significances from below $1σ$ to $4σ$. We point out that extending the same analysis to XENONnT and LZ data with recoil energies up to 300 keV, once available, will provide a powerful test of the dark matter interpretation, since the $^{124}$Xe DEC background is expected to be negligible in this high-energy range. |
| title | Dark matter implications from the XENONnT and LZ data |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Experiment |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05850 |