1. Search for light dark matter from atmosphere in PandaX-4T
- Author
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Ning, Xuyang, Abdukerim, Abdusalam, Bo, Zihao, Chen, Wei, Chen, Xun, Chen, Yunhua, Cheng, Chen, Cheng, Zhaokan, Cui, Xiangyi, Fan, Yingjie, Fang, Deqing, Fu, Changbo, Fu, Mengting, Geng, Lisheng, Giboni, Karl, Gu, Linhui, Guo, Xuyuan, Han, Chencheng, Han, Ke, He, Changda, He, Jinrong, Huang, Di, Huang, Yanlin, Huang, Zhou, Hou, Ruquan, Ji, Xiangdong, Ju, Yonglin, Li, Chenxiang, Li, Jiafu, Li, Mingchuan, Li, Shu, Li, Shuaijie, Lin, Qing, Liu, Jianglai, Lu, Xiaoying, Luo, Lingyin, Luo, Yunyang, Ma, Wenbo, Ma, Yugang, Mao, Yajun, Meng, Yue, Qi, Ningchun, Qian, Zhicheng, Ren, Xiangxiang, Shaheed, Nasir, Shang, Changsong, Shang, Xiaofeng, Shen, Guofang, Si, Lin, Sun, Wenliang, Tan, Andi, Tao, Yi, Wang, Anqing, Wang, Meng, Wang, Qiuhong, Wang, Shaobo, Wang, Siguang, Wang, Wei, Wang, Xiuli, Wang, Zhou, Wei, Yuehuan, Wu, Mengmeng, Wu, Weihao, Xia, Jingkai, Xiao, Mengjiao, Xiao, Xiang, Xie, Pengwei, Yan, Binbin, Yan, Xiyu, Yang, Jijun, Yang, Yong, Yao, Yukun, Yu, Chunxu, Yuan, Jumin, Yuan, Ying, Yuan, Zhe, Zeng, Xinning, Zhang, Dan, Zhang, Minzhen, Zhang, Peng, Zhang, Shibo, Zhang, Shu, Zhang, Tao, Zhang, Yang, Zhang, Yingxin, Zhang, Yuanyuan, Zhao, Li, Zheng, Qibin, Zhou, Jifang, Zhou, Ning, Zhou, Xiaopeng, Zhou, Yong, Zhou, Yubo, Su, Liangliang, and lei wu
- Subjects
High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,High Energy Physics - Experiment - Abstract
We report a search for light dark matter produced through the cascading decay of $\eta$ 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 $\eta$ to dark matter decay branching ratio is $1.6 \times 10^{-7}$.
- Published
- 2023