skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


This content will become publicly available on May 1, 2026

Title: Impact of extreme ultraviolet radiation on the scintillation of pure and xenon-doped liquid argon
The Xenon-Argon Technology (X-ArT) Collaboration presents a study on the dynamics of pure and xenon-doped liquid argon (LAr) scintillation. Using two types of silicon photomultipliers sensitive to different wavelength ranges, we provide evidence in favor of a contribution from long-lived ( > 10 μ s ) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lines emitted from argon atomic states, which enhances the light yield. This component is present in both pure and xenon-doped LAr, becoming more pronounced at higher xenon concentrations, where it complements the traditional collisional energy transfer process. To explain this mechanism, we develop a comprehensive model of the Xe-doped LAr scintillation process that integrates both collisional and radiative contributions. Additionally, we investigate how xenon doping affects LAr scintillation light yield and pulse shape discrimination. Finally, we hypothesize that the EUV component may explain the emission of spurious electrons, a known challenge in light dark matter searches using noble liquids. By characterizing the scintillation dynamics in Xe-doped LAr, identifying the long-lived EUV component, and exploring the potential origin of spurious electrons, this work lays the groundwork for optimizing detector performance and advancing the design and sensitivity of future noble liquid particle detectors. Published by the American Physical Society2025  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2310038 2310048 2310049 2310046 1935947 2310041 2131857
PAR ID:
10608308
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more » ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; « less
Corporate Creator(s):
Publisher / Repository:
American Physical Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Physical Review D
Volume:
111
Issue:
10
ISSN:
2470-0010
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. We present the first measurement of nuclear recoils from solar B 8 neutrinos via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering with the XENONnT dark matter experiment. The central detector of XENONnT is a low-background, two-phase time projection chamber with a 5.9 t sensitive liquid xenon target. A blind analysis with an exposure of 3.51 t × yr resulted in 37 observed events above 0.5 keV, with ( 26.4 1.3 + 1.4 ) events expected from backgrounds. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with a statistical significance of 2.73 σ . The measured B 8 solar neutrino flux of ( 4.7 2.3 + 3.6 ) × 10 6 cm 2 s 1 is consistent with results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. The measured neutrino flux-weighted CE ν NS cross section on Xe of ( 1.1 0.5 + 0.8 ) × 10 39 cm 2 is consistent with the Standard Model prediction. This is the first direct measurement of nuclear recoils from solar neutrinos with a dark matter detector. Published by the American Physical Society2024 
    more » « less
  2. ProtoDUNE Single-Phase (ProtoDUNE-SP) is a 770-ton liquid argon time projection chamber that operated in a hadron test beam at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2018. We present a measurement of the total inelastic cross section of charged kaons on argon as a function of kaon energy using 6 and 7 GeV / c beam momentum settings. The flux-weighted average of the extracted inelastic cross section at each beam momentum setting was measured to be 380 ± 26 mbarns for the 6 GeV / c setting and 379 ± 35 mbarns for the 7 GeV / c setting. Published by the American Physical Society2024 
    more » « less
  3. Electron-neutrino charged-current interactions with xenon nuclei were modeled in the nEXO neutrinoless double- β decay detector ( 5 metric ton, 90% Xe 136 , 10% Xe 134 ) to evaluate its sensitivity to supernova neutrinos. Predictions for event rates and detectable signatures were modeled using the Model of Argon Reaction Low Energy Yields (MARLEY) event generator. We find good agreement between MARLEY’s predictions and existing theoretical calculations of the inclusive cross sections at supernova neutrino energies. The interactions modeled by MARLEY were simulated within the nEXO simulation framework and were run through an example reconstruction algorithm to determine the detector’s efficiency for reconstructing these events. The simulated data, incorporating the detector response, were used to study the ability of nEXO to reconstruct the incident electron-neutrino spectrum and these results were extended to a larger xenon detector of the same isotope enrichment. We estimate that nEXO will be able to observe electron-neutrino interactions with xenon from supernovae as far as 5–8 kpc from Earth, while the ability to reconstruct incident electron-neutrino spectrum parameters from observed interactions in nEXO is limited to closer supernovae. Published by the American Physical Society2024 
    more » « less
  4. We calculate target-material responses for dark matter–electron scattering at the all-electron level using atom-centered Gaussian basis sets. The all-electron effects enhance the material response at high momentum transfers from dark matter to electrons, q O ( 10 α m e ) , compared to calculations using conventional plane wave methods, including those used in ; this enhances the expected event rates at energy transfers E 10 eV , especially when scattering through heavy mediators. We carefully test a range of systematic uncertainties in the theory calculation, including those arising from the choice of basis set, exchange-correlation functional, number of unit cells in the Bloch sum, k -mesh, and neglect of scatters with very high momentum transfers. We provide state-of-the-art crystal form factors, focusing on silicon and germanium. Our code and results are made publicly available as a new tool, called (“”). Published by the American Physical Society2024 
    more » « less
  5. This Letter presents the most precise measurement to date of the matter-antimatter imbalance at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair s NN = 5.02 TeV . Using the Statistical Hadronization framework, it is possible to obtain the value of the electric charge and baryon chemical potentials, μ Q = 0.18 ± 0.90 MeV and μ B = 0.71 ± 0.45 MeV , with unprecedented precision. A centrality-differential study of the antiparticle-to-particle yield ratios of charged pions, protons, Ω baryons, and light (hyper)nuclei is performed. These results indicate that the system created in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is on average baryon-free and electrically neutral at midrapidity. © 2024 CERN, for the ALICE Collaboration2024CERN 
    more » « less