An Effective Field Theory Analysis of the First LUX Dark Matter Search

LUX Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter search was a 250-kg active mass dual-phase time projection chamber that operated by detecting light and ionization signals from particles incident on a xenon target. In December 2015, LUX reported a minimum 90% upper C.L. of 6e-46 cm^2 on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross section based on a 1.4e4 kg*day exposure in its first science run. Tension between experiments and the absence of a definitive positive detection suggest it would be prudent to search for WIMPs outside the standard spin-independent/spin-dependent paradigm. Recent theoretical work has identified a complete basis of 14 independent effective field theory (EFT) operators to describe WIMP-nucleon interactions. In addition to spin-independent and spin-dependent nuclear responses, these operators can produce novel responses such as angular-momentum-dependent and spin-orbit couplings. Here we report on a search for all 14 of these EFT couplings with data from LUX's first science run. Limits are placed on each coupling as a function of WIMP mass.
Original languageEnglish
Article number122005
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalPhysical Review D, particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology
Volume103
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2021

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • astro-ph.CO

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