Search for Cosmic-Ray Boosted Sub-GeV Dark Matter at the PandaX-II Experiment

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

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.171801

Search for Cosmic-Ray Boosted Sub-GeV Dark Matter at the PandaX-II Experiment

Phys Rev Lett. 2022 Apr 29;128(17):171801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.171801.

Authors

Xiangyi Cui¹, Abdusalam Abdukerim², Zihao Bo², Wei Chen², Xun Chen^{2

3}, Yunhua Chen⁴, Chen Cheng⁵, Yunshan Cheng^{6

7}, Yingjie Fan⁸, Deqing Fang⁹, Changbo Fu⁹, Mengting Fu¹⁰, Lisheng Geng^{11

12

13}, Karl Giboni², Linhui Gu², Xuyuan Guo⁴, Ke Han², Changda He², Jinrong He⁴, Di Huang², Yanlin Huang¹⁴, Zhou Huang², Ruquan Hou³, Xiangdong Ji¹⁵, Yonglin Ju¹⁶, Chenxiang Li², Mingchuan Li⁴, Shu Li¹⁶, Shuaijie Li¹, Qing Lin^{17

18}, Jianglai Liu^{1

2

3}, Xiaoying Lu^{6

7}, Lingyin Luo¹⁰, Wenbo Ma², Yugang Ma⁹, Yajun Mao¹⁰, Yue Meng^{2

3}, Nasir Shaheed^{6

7}, Xuyang Ning², Ningchun Qi⁴, Zhicheng Qian², Xiangxiang Ren^{6

7}, Changsong Shang⁴, Guofang Shen¹¹, Lin Si², Wenliang Sun⁴, Andi Tan¹⁵, Yi Tao^{2

3}, Anqing Wang^{6

7}, Meng Wang^{6

7}, Qiuhong Wang⁹, Shaobo Wang^{2

19}, Siguang Wang¹⁰, Zhou Wang^{1

2

3}, Wei Wang⁵, Xiuli Wang¹⁶, Mengmeng Wu⁵, Weihao Wu², Jingkai Xia², Mengjiao Xiao¹⁵, Xiang Xiao⁵, Pengwei Xie¹, Binbin Yan², Xiyu Yan¹⁴, Jijun Yang², Yong Yang², Chunxu Yu⁸, Jumin Yuan^{6

7}, Ying Yuan², Dan Zhang¹⁵, Minzhen Zhang², Peng Zhang⁴, Tao Zhang², Li Zhao², Qibin Zheng¹⁴, Jifang Zhou⁴, Ning Zhou², Xiaopeng Zhou¹¹, Yong Zhou⁴, Shao-Feng Ge^{1

2}, Qiang Yuan^{20

21}; PandaX-II Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
² School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, MOE Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Shanghai 200240, China.
³ Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sichuan Research Institute, Chengdu 610213, China.
⁴ Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Limited, 288 Shuanglin Road, Chengdu 610051, China.
⁵ School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
⁶ Research Center for Particle Science and Technology, Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237 Shandong, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237 Shandong, China.
⁸ School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
¹⁰ School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
¹¹ School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 102206, China.
¹² Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Materials and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 102206, China.
¹³ School of Physics and Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China.
¹⁴ School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
¹⁶ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
¹⁷ State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁸ Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁹ SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
²⁰ Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210023, China.
²¹ School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.

PMID: 35570440
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.171801

Abstract

We report a novel search for the cosmic-ray boosted dark matter using the 100 tonne·day full dataset of the PandaX-II detector located at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. With the extra energy gained from the cosmic rays, sub-GeV dark matter particles can produce visible recoil signals in the detector. The diurnal modulations in rate and energy spectrum are utilized to further enhance the signal sensitivity. Our result excludes the dark matter-nucleon elastic scattering cross section between 10^{-31} and 10^{-28} cm^{2} for dark matter masses from 0.1 MeV/c^{2} to 0.1 GeV/c^{2}, with a large parameter space previously unexplored by experimental collaborations.