Search for: All records

Particle dark matter could belong to a multiplet that includes an electrically charged state. WIMP dark matter (χ0) accompanied by a negatively charged excited state (χ−) with a small mass difference (e.g. < 20 MeV) can form a bound-state with a nucleus such as xenon. This bound-state formation is rare and the released energy is O(1−10) MeV depending on the nucleus, making large liquid scintillator detectors suitable for detection. We searched for bound-state formation events with xenon in two experimental phases of the KamLAND-Zen experiment, a xenon-doped liquid scintillator detector. No statistically significant events were observed. For a benchmark parameter set of WIMP mass mχ0=1 TeV and mass difference Δm=17 MeV, we set the most stringent upper limits on the recombination cross section times velocity 〈σv〉 and the decay-width of χ− to 9.2×10−30cm3/s and 8.7×10−14 GeV, respectively at 90% confidence level. 

Abstract Preceding a core-collapse supernova (CCSN), various processes produce an increasing amount of neutrinos of all flavors characterized by mounting energies from the interior of massive stars. Among them, the electron antineutrinos are potentially detectable by terrestrial neutrino experiments such as KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande (SK) via inverse beta decay interactions. Once these pre-supernova (pre-SN) neutrinos are observed, an early warning of the upcoming CCSN can be provided. In light of this, KamLAND and SK, both located in the Kamioka mine in Japan, have been monitoring pre-SN neutrinos since 2015 and 2021, respectively. Recently, we performed a joint study between KamLAND and SK on pre-SN neutrino detection. A pre-SN alert system combining the KamLAND detector and the SK detector was developed and put into operation, which can provide a supernova alert to the astrophysics community. Fully leveraging the complementary properties of these two detectors, the combined alert is expected to resolve a pre-SN neutrino signal from a 15M_⊙star within 510 pc of the Earth at a significance level corresponding to a false alarm rate of no more than 1 per century. For a Betelgeuse-like model with optimistic parameters, it can provide early warnings up to 12 hr in advance.