https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10913-w
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
An approximate likelihood for nuclear recoil searches with XENON1T data
1
Physics Department, Columbia University, 10027, New York, NY, USA
2
Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, and Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Higashi-Mozumi, Kamioka, 506-1205, Hida, Gifu, Japan
3
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna and INFN-Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
4
LPNHE, Sorbonne Université, CNRS/IN2P3, 75005, Paris, France
5
Institut für Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA+, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099, Mainz, Germany
6
Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149, Münster, Germany
7
INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Department of Physics, University of Torino and INFN-Torino, 10125, Turin, Italy
8
Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, 1098XG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
9
Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden
10
Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, IL, USA
11
New York University Abu Dhabi-Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
12
Physik-Institut, University of Zürich, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
13
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, 47907, West Lafayette, IN, USA
14
INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
15
Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
16
SUBATECH, IMT Atlantique, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Nantes, 44307, Nantes, France
17
Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001, Rehovot, Israel
18
LIBPhys, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516, Coimbra, Portugal
19
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
20
Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini”, University of Napoli and INFN-Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
21
Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021, Karlsruhe, Germany
22
Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of L’Aquila, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
23
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, 77005, Houston, TX, USA
24
Department of Physics and Center for High Energy Physics, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China
25
Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe, and Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, 464-8602, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
26
Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, 92093, La Jolla, CA, USA
27
Department of Physics, Kobe University, 657-8501, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
28
Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, 464-8601, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
29
Coimbra Polytechnic-ISEC, 3030-199, Coimbra, Portugal
30
INFN, Sez. di Ferrara and Dip. di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Ferrara, via G. Saragat 1, Edificio C, 44122, Ferrara, FE, Italy
Received:
29
June
2022
Accepted:
13
October
2022
Published online:
3
November
2022
The XENON collaboration has published stringent limits on specific dark matter – nucleon recoil spectra from dark matter recoiling on the liquid xenon detector target. In this paper, we present an approximate likelihood for the XENON1T 1 t-year nuclear recoil search applicable to any nuclear recoil spectrum. Alongside this paper, we publish data and code to compute upper limits using the method we present. The approximate likelihood is constructed in bins of reconstructed energy, profiled along the signal expectation in each bin. This approach can be used to compute an approximate likelihood and therefore most statistical results for any nuclear recoil spectrum. Computing approximate results with this method is approximately three orders of magnitude faster than the likelihood used in the original publications of XENON1T, where limits were set for specific families of recoil spectra. Using this same method, we include toy Monte Carlo simulation-derived binwise likelihoods for the upcoming XENONnT experiment that can similarly be used to assess the sensitivity to arbitrary nuclear recoil signatures in its eventual 20 t-year exposure.
© The Author(s) 2022
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Funded by SCOAP3. SCOAP3 supports the goals of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.
