Eur. Phys. J. C (2024) 84: 24
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-12312-1

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Constraints on directionality effect of nuclear recoils in a liquid argon time projection chamber

¹ Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
² AstroCeNT, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-614, Warsaw, Poland
³ INFN Catania, 95121, Catania, Italy
⁴ Università of Catania, 95124, Catania, Italy
⁵ Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-090, São Paulo, Brazil
⁶ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 99352, Richland, WA, USA
⁷ Physics Department, Augustana University, 57197, Sioux Falls, SD, USA
⁸ TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, V6T 2A3, Vancouver, BC, Canada
⁹ INFN Cagliari, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
¹⁰ Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, 125047, Moscow, Russia
¹¹ INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, 35020, Legnaro, Padua, Italy
¹² Department of Physics, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 0EX, Egham, UK
¹³ CIEMAT, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, 28040, Madrid, Spain
¹⁴ Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
¹⁵ INFN Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
¹⁶ INFN Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy
¹⁷ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy
¹⁸ INFN Sezione di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
¹⁹ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
²⁰ INFN Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
²¹ Physics Department, Princeton University, 08544, Princeton, NJ, USA
²² Department of Physics, Carleton University, K1S 5B6, Ottawa, ON, Canada
²³ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
²⁴ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy
²⁵ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
²⁶ Physics Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
²⁷ Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain
²⁸ Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia
²⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
³⁰ INFN Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
³¹ INFN Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
³² SNOLAB, P3Y 1N2, Lively, ON, Canada
³³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Laurentian University, P3E 2C6, ON, Sudbury, Canada
³⁴ M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, 30-348, Kraków, Poland
³⁵ Department of Strutture per l’Ingegneria e l’Architettura, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80131, Naples, Italy
³⁶ INFN Torino, 10125, Turin, Italy
³⁷ Physics Department, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
³⁸ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Salerno, 84084, Salerno, Italy
³⁹ INFN Salerno, 84084, Salerno, Italy
⁴⁰ Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences Department, Università di Sassari, 07100, Sassari, Italy
⁴¹ Saint Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, 188350, Gatchina, Russia
⁴² Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy, Queen’s University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, ON, Canada
⁴³ National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 123182, Moscow, Russia
⁴⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA
⁴⁵ Physics Department, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB, Lancaster, UK
⁴⁶ APC, Université de Paris, CNRS, Astroparticule et Cosmologie, 75013, Paris, France
⁴⁷ Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, 00184, Rome, Italy
⁴⁸ Institute for Particle Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
⁴⁹ LPNHE, CNRS/IN2P3, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Diderot, 75252, Paris, France
⁵⁰ Williams College, Physics Department, 01267, Williamstown, MA, USA
⁵¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 96822, Honolulu, HI, USA
⁵² Fondazione Bruno Kessler, 38123, Povo, Italy
⁵³ Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, 38123, Povo, Italy
⁵⁴ National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, 115409, Moscow, Russia
⁵⁵ Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980, Dubna, Russia
⁵⁶ Institute of High Energy Physics, 100049, Beijing, China
⁵⁷ Engineering and Architecture Faculty, Università di Enna Kore, 94100, Enna, Italy
⁵⁸ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, 95123, Catania, Italy
⁵⁹ Department of Physics, University of Alberta, T6G 2R3, Edmonton, AB, Canada
⁶⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3FD, Edinburgh, UK
⁶¹ Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
⁶² Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 60510, Batavia, IL, USA
⁶³ Radiation Physics Laboratory, Belgorod National Research University, 308007, Belgorod, Russia
⁶⁴ Pharmacy Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80131, Naples, Italy
⁶⁵ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK
⁶⁶ INFN Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy
⁶⁷ Mathematics and Physics Department, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy
⁶⁸ Virginia Tech, 24061, Blacksburg, VA, USA
⁶⁹ Fundación ARAID, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain
⁷⁰ Physics Department, Temple University, 19122, Philadelphia, PA, USA
⁷¹ Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, The Oliver Lodge Laboratory, L69 7ZE, Liverpool, UK
⁷² Department of Physics, University of Warwick, CV47AL, Coventry, UK
⁷³ Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁷⁴ Novosibirsk State University, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁷⁵ Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Physics Department, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA, USA
⁷⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK
⁷⁷ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
⁷⁸ Department of Physics, University of Houston, 77204, Houston, TX, USA
⁷⁹ Chemical, Materials, and Industrial Production Engineering Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
⁸⁰ Department of Electronics and Communications, Politecnico di Torino, 10129, Turin, Italy
⁸¹ Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California, 90095, Los Angeles, CA, USA
⁸² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
⁸³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, 92507, Riverside, CA, USA
⁸⁴ Department of Physics and Engineering, Fort Lewis College, 81301, Durango, CO, USA
⁸⁵ INFN, Rome, Italy

^a ds-ed@lngs.infn.it

Received: 28 July 2023
Accepted: 30 November 2023
Published online: 10 January 2024

Abstract

The direct search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) is performed by detecting nuclear recoils produced in a target material from the WIMP elastic scattering. The experimental identification of the direction of the WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a crucial asset in this field, as it enables unmistakable modulation signatures for dark matter. The Recoil Directionality (ReD) experiment was designed to probe for such directional sensitivity in argon dual-phase time projection chambers (TPC), that are widely considered for current and future direct dark matter searches. The TPC of ReD was irradiated with neutrons at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud. Data were taken with nuclear recoils of known directions and kinetic energy of 72 keV, which is within the range of interest for WIMP-induced signals in argon. The direction-dependent liquid argon charge recombination model by Cataudella et al. was adopted and a likelihood statistical analysis was performed, which gave no indications of significant dependence of the detector response to the recoil direction. The aspect ratio R of the initial ionization cloud is with 90 % confidence level.