P. de Perio

First Dark Matter Search Results from the XENON1T Experiment

We report the first dark matter search results from XENON1T, a ∼2000-kg-target-mass dual-phase (liquid-gas) xenon time projection chamber in operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy and the first ton-scale detector of this kind. The blinded search used 34.2 live days of data acquired between November 2016 and January 2017. Inside the (1042±12)-kg fiducial mass and in the [5,40]u2009u2009keV_{nr} energy range of interest for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches, the electronic recoil background was (1.93±0.25)×10^{-4}u2009u2009events/(kg×day×keV_{ee}), the lowest ever achieved in such a dark matter detector. A profile likelihood analysis shows that the data are consistent with the background-only hypothesis. We derive the most stringent exclusion limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section for WIMP masses above 10u2009u2009GeV/c^{2}, with a minimum of 7.7×10^{-47}u2009u2009cm^{2} for 35-GeV/c^{2} WIMPs at 90%xa0C.L.

Testing charged current quasi-elastic and multinucleon interaction models in the NEUT neutrino interaction generator with published datasets from the MiniBooNE and MINERνA experiments

The MiniBooNE large axial mass anomaly has prompted a great deal of theoretical work on sophisticated Charged Current Quasi-Elastic (CCQE) neutrino interaction models in recent years. As the dominant interaction mode at T2K energies, and the signal process in oscillation analyses, it is important for the T2K experiment to include realistic CCQE cross section uncertainties in T2K analyses. To this end, T2Ks Neutrino Interaction Working Group has implemented a number of recent models in NEUT, T2Ks primary neutrino interaction event generator. In this paper, we give an overview of the models implemented, and present fits to published muon neutrino and muon antineutrino CCQE cross section measurements from the MiniBooNE and MINERvA experiments. The results of the fits are used to select a default cross section model for future T2K analyses, and to constrain the cross section uncertainties of the model. We find a model consisting of a modified relativistic Fermi gas model and multinucleon interactions most consistently describes the available data.