First Search for the Absorption of Fermionic Dark Matter with the PandaX-4T Experiment

Linhui Gu; Abdusalam Abdukerim; Zihao Bo; Wei Chen; Xun Chen; Yunhua Chen; Chen Cheng; Yunshan Cheng; Zhaokan Cheng; Xiangyi Cui; Yingjie Fan; Deqing Fang; Changbo Fu; Mengting Fu; Lisheng Geng; Karl Giboni; Xuyuan Guo; Ke Han; Changda He; Jinrong He; Di Huang; Yanlin Huang; Zhou Huang; Ruquan Hou; Xiangdong Ji; Yonglin Ju; Chenxiang Li; Jiafu Li; Mingchuan Li; Shu Li; Shuaijie Li; Qing Lin; Jianglai Liu; Xiaoying Lu; Lingyin Luo; Yunyang Luo; Wenbo Ma; Yugang Ma; Yajun Mao; Nasir Shaheed; Yue Meng; Xuyang Ning; Ningchun Qi; Zhicheng Qian; Xiangxiang Ren; Changsong Shang; Xiaofeng Shang; Guofang Shen; Lin Si; Wenliang Sun; Andi Tan; Yi Tao; Anqing Wang; Meng Wang; Qiuhong Wang; Shaobo Wang; Siguang Wang; Wei Wang; Xiuli Wang; Zhou Wang; Yuehuan Wei; Mengmeng Wu; Weihao Wu; Jingkai Xia; Mengjiao Xiao; Xiang Xiao; Pengwei Xie; Binbin Yan; Xiyu Yan; Jijun Yang; Yong Yang; Yukun Yao; Chunxu Yu; Jumin Yuan; Ying Yuan; Xinning Zeng; Dan Zhang; Minzhen Zhang; Peng Zhang; Shibo Zhang; Shu Zhang; Tao Zhang; Yuanyuan Zhang; Li Zhao; Qibin Zheng; Jifang Zhou; Ning Zhou; Xiaopeng Zhou; Yong Zhou; Yubo Zhou; PandaX Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.161803

First Search for the Absorption of Fermionic Dark Matter with the PandaX-4T Experiment

Phys Rev Lett. 2022 Oct 14;129(16):161803. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.161803.

Authors

Linhui Gu¹, Abdusalam Abdukerim¹, Zihao Bo¹, Wei Chen¹, Xun Chen^{1

2}, Yunhua Chen³, Chen Cheng⁴, Yunshan Cheng^{5

6}, Zhaokan Cheng⁷, Xiangyi Cui⁸, Yingjie Fan⁹, Deqing Fang¹⁰, Changbo Fu¹⁰, Mengting Fu¹¹, Lisheng Geng^{12

13

14}, Karl Giboni¹, Xuyuan Guo³, Ke Han¹, Changda He¹, Jinrong He³, Di Huang¹, Yanlin Huang¹⁵, Zhou Huang¹, Ruquan Hou², Xiangdong Ji¹⁶, Yonglin Ju¹⁷, Chenxiang Li¹, Jiafu Li⁴, Mingchuan Li³, Shu Li¹⁷, Shuaijie Li⁸, Qing Lin^{18

19}, Jianglai Liu^{1

2

8}, Xiaoying Lu^{5

6}, Lingyin Luo¹¹, Yunyang Luo¹⁹, Wenbo Ma¹, Yugang Ma¹⁰, Yajun Mao¹¹, Nasir Shaheed^{5

6}, Yue Meng^{1

2}, Xuyang Ning¹, Ningchun Qi³, Zhicheng Qian¹, Xiangxiang Ren^{5

6}, Changsong Shang³, Xiaofeng Shang¹, Guofang Shen¹², Lin Si¹, Wenliang Sun³, Andi Tan¹⁶, Yi Tao^{1

2}, Anqing Wang^{5

6}, Meng Wang^{5

6}, Qiuhong Wang¹⁰, Shaobo Wang^{1

20}, Siguang Wang¹¹, Wei Wang^{4

7}, Xiuli Wang¹⁷, Zhou Wang^{1

2

8}, Yuehuan Wei⁷, Mengmeng Wu⁴, Weihao Wu¹, Jingkai Xia¹, Mengjiao Xiao¹⁶, Xiang Xiao⁴, Pengwei Xie⁸, Binbin Yan¹, Xiyu Yan¹⁵, Jijun Yang¹, Yong Yang¹, Yukun Yao¹, Chunxu Yu⁹, Jumin Yuan^{5

6}, Ying Yuan¹, Xinning Zeng¹, Dan Zhang¹⁶, Minzhen Zhang¹, Peng Zhang³, Shibo Zhang¹, Shu Zhang⁴, Tao Zhang¹, Yuanyuan Zhang⁸, Li Zhao¹, Qibin Zheng¹⁵, Jifang Zhou³, Ning Zhou^{1

2}, Xiaopeng Zhou¹², Yong Zhou³, Yubo Zhou¹; PandaX Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MoE), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Shanghai 200240, China.
² Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sichuan Research Institute, Chengdu 610213, China.
³ Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Ltd., 288 Shuanglin Road, Chengdu 610051, China.
⁴ School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
⁵ Research Center for Particle Science and Technology, Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, Shandong, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, Shandong, China.
⁷ Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China.
⁸ Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁹ School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
¹¹ School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
¹² School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 102206, China.
¹³ International Research Center for Nuclei and Particles in the Cosmos and Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Materials and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
¹⁴ School of Physics and Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China.
¹⁵ School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
¹⁷ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
¹⁸ State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁹ Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
²⁰ SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.

PMID: 36306747
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.161803

Abstract

Compared with the signature of dark matter elastic scattering off nuclei, the absorption of fermionic dark matter by nuclei opens up a new searching channel for light dark matter with a characteristic monoenergetic signal. In this Letter, we explore the 95.0-day data from the PandaX-4T commissioning run and report the first dedicated searching results of the fermionic dark matter absorption signal through a neutral current process. No significant signal was found, and the lowest limit on the dark matter-nucleon interaction cross section is set to be 1.5×10^{-50} cm^{2} for a fermionic dark matter mass of 40 MeV/c^{2} with 90% confidence level.