First Results on the Scalar WIMP-Pion Coupling, Using the XENON1T Experiment.

/ Authors

E. Aprile, J. Aalbers, F. Agostini, M. Alfonsi, L. Althueser, F. Amaro, M. Anthony, V. C. Antochi, F. Arneodo, L. Baudis

and 122 more authors

B. Bauermeister, M. Benabderrahmane, T. Berger, P. Breur, A. Brown, E. Brown, S. Bruenner, G. Bruno, R. Budnik, C. Capelli, J. Cardoso, D. Cichon, D. Coderre, A. Colijn, J. Conrad, J. Cussonneau, M. Decowski, P. de Perio, P. Di Gangi, A. Di Giovanni, S. Diglio, A. Elykov, G. Eurin, J. Fei, A. Ferella, A. Fieguth, W. Fulgione, A. Gallo Rosso, M. Galloway, F. Gao, M. Garbini, L. Grandi, Z. Greene, C. Hasterok, E. Hogenbirk, J. Howlett, M. Iacovacci, R. Itay, F. Joerg, B. Kaminsky, S. Kazama, A. Kish, G. Koltman, A. Kopec, H. Landsman, R. Lang, L. Levinson, Q. Lin, S. Lindemann, M. Lindner, F. Lombardi, J. Lopes, E. López Fune, C. Macolino, J. Mahlstedt, A. Manfredini, F. Marignetti, T. Marrodán Undagoitia, J. Masbou, D. Masson, S. Mastroianni, M. Messina, K. Micheneau, K. Miller, A. Molinario, K. Morå, M. Murra, J. Naganoma, K. Ni, U. Oberlack, K. Odgers, B. Pelssers, F. Piastra, J. Pienaar, V. Pizzella, G. Plante, R. Podviianiuk, N. Priel, H. Qiu, D. Ramírez García, S. Reichard, B. Riedel, A. Rizzo, A. Rocchetti, N. Rupp, J. D. dos Santos, G. Sartorelli, N. Šarčević, M. Scheibelhut, S. Schindler, J. Schreiner, D. Schulte, M. Schumann, L. Scotto Lavina, M. Selvi, P. Shagin, E. Shockley, M. Silva, H. Simgen, C. Therreau, D. Thers, F. Toschi, G. Trinchero, C. Tunnell, N. Upole, M. Vargas, O. Wack, H. Wang, Z Wang, Y. Wei, C. Weinheimer, D. Wenz, C. Wittweg, J. Wulf, J. Ye, Y. Zhang, T. Zhu, J. Zopounidis, M. Hoferichter, P. Klos, J. Menendez, A. Schwenk

/ Abstract

We present first results on the scalar coupling of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) to pions from 1 t yr of exposure with the XENON1T experiment. This interaction is generated when the WIMP couples to a virtual pion exchanged between the nucleons in a nucleus. In contrast to most nonrelativistic operators, these pion-exchange currents can be coherently enhanced by the total number of nucleons and therefore may dominate in scenarios where spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interactions are suppressed. Moreover, for natural values of the couplings, they dominate over the spin-dependent channel due to their coherence in the nucleus. Using the signal model of this new WIMP-pion channel, no significant excess is found, leading to an upper limit cross section of 6.4×10^{-46} cm^{2} (90% confidence level) at 30 GeV/c^{2} WIMP mass.

Journal: Physical review letters

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.071301