Constraining the spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon interaction with XENON1T
Since we don’t know how dark matter interacts with more familiar particles, we have to break up our search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in terms of their possible interactions with xenon nuclei. While many complex interactions are possible, we generally start with two simple cases: WIMP-nucleus interactions that don’t depend on the nuclear […]
XENON1T at Lake Louise
Physics meets winter sports at the Lake Louise Winter Institute, a particle physics conference held annually in the beautiful Canadian Rockies. On February 12, 2019, Evan Shockley from University of Chicago presented at the conference on behalf of the XENON collaboration. The talk focused on the latest, world-leading WIMP results, and included a status update […]
Observing the Rarest Decay Process Ever Measured
[Press Release April 2019 – for immediate release. Paper published in Nature and preprint on the arxiv.] The universe is almost 14 billion years old. An inconceivable length of time by human standards – yet compared to some physical processes, it is but a moment. There are radioactive nuclei that wdecay on much longer time […]
XENON on skis
XENON was present at the ALPS conference in Austria. Chiara Capelli from University of Zurich gave a talk on behalf of the XENON collaboration. The talk focused on the latest XENON1T results on spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMPs, and on the newest results on two-neutrinos double electron capture, with a final status on the XENONnT upgrade. […]
Search for light dark matter interactions enhanced by the Migdal effect in XENON1T
When a particle elastically scatters off a xenon nucleus, it has been assumed that electron clouds immediately follow the motion of the nucleus, but in reality it takes some time for the atomic electrons to catch up, resulting in ionization and excitation of the atom. This effect is called the Migdal effect, which was predicted by A. B. Migdal and recently reformulated […]
Light Dark Matter Search Results from XENON1T
XENON1T recently released a preprint with new world-leading constraints on light dark matter particles. The challenge of light dark matter The XENON1T detector aims find the signals of dark matter bouncing off xenon atoms. If such a collision happens, it produces two signals: a small light flash (S1), and a cloud of free electrons that […]
Search for light dark matter interactions enhanced by the Migdal effect in XENON1T
When a particle elastically scatters off a xenon nucleus, it has been assumed that electron clouds immediately follow the motion of the nucleus, but in reality it takes some time for the atomic electrons to catch up, resulting in ionization and excitation of the atom. This effect is called the Migdal effect, which was predicted by A. B. Migdal and recently reformulated […]
Light Dark Matter Search Results from XENON1T
XENON1T recently released a preprint with new world-leading constraints on light dark matter particles. The challenge of light dark matter The XENON1T detector aims find the signals of dark matter bouncing off xenon atoms. If such a collision happens, it produces two signals: a small light flash (S1), and a cloud of free electrons that […]
XENON on skis
XENON was present at the ALPS conference in Austria. Chiara Capelli from University of Zurich gave a talk on behalf of the XENON collaboration. The talk focused on the latest XENON1T results on spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMPs, and on the newest results on two-neutrinos double electron capture, with a final status on the XENONnT upgrade. […]
Observing the Rarest Decay Process Ever Measured
[Press Release April 2019 – for immediate release. Paper published in Nature and preprint on the arxiv.] The universe is almost 14 billion years old. An inconceivable length of time by human standards – yet compared to some physical processes, it is but a moment. There are radioactive nuclei that wdecay on much longer time […]