Search for two-neutrino double electron capture of $^{124}$Xe with XENON100

E. Aprile , J. Aalbers , F. Agostini , M. Alfonsi , F.D. Amaro , M. Anthony , F. Arneodo , P. Barrow , L. Baudis , B. Bauermeister , M.L. Benabderrahmane , T. Berger , P.A. Breur , A. Brown , E. Brown , S. Bruenner , G. Bruno , R. Budnik , L. Bütikofer , J. Calvén , J.M.R. Cardoso , M. Cervantes , D. Cichon , D. Coderre , A.P. Colijn , J. Conrad (1) , Jean-Pierre Cussonneau (1) , M.P. Decowski , P. de Perio , P. Di Gangi , A. Di Giovanni , Sara Diglio (1) , E. Duchovni , J. Fei , A.D. Ferella , A. Fieguth , D. Franco , W. Fulgione , A. Gallo Rosso , M. Galloway , F. Gao , M. Garbini , C. Geis , L.W. Goetzke , Z. Greene , C. Grignon , C. Hasterok , E. Hogenbirk , R. Itay , B. Kaminsky , G. Kessler , A. Kish , H. Landsman , R.F. Lang , D. Lellouch , L. Levinson , M. Le Calloch (1) , C. Levy , Q. Lin , S. Lindemann , M. Lindner , J.A.M. Lopes , A. Manfredini , T. Marrodán Undagoitia , Julien Masbou (1) , F.V. Massoli , D. Masson , D. Mayani , Y. Meng , M. Messina , K. Micheneau (1) , B. Miguez , A. Molinario , M. Murra , J. Naganoma , K. Ni , U. Oberlack , S.E.A. Orrigo , P. Pakarha , B. Pelssers , R. Persiani (1) , F. Piastra , J. Pienaar , M.-C. Piro , G. Plante , N. Priel , L. Rauch , S. Reichard , C. Reuter , A. Rizzo , S. Rosendahl , N. Rupp , J.M.F. dos Santos , G. Sartorelli , M. Scheibelhut , S. Schindler , J. Schreiner , M. Schumann , L. Scotto Lavina (1) , M. Selvi , P. Shagin , M. Silva , H. Simgen , M. V.Sivers , A. Stein , Dominique Thers (1) , A. Tiseni , G. Trinchero , C.D. Tunnell , R. Wall , H. Wang , M. Weber , Y. Wei , C. Weinheimer , J. Wulf , Y. Zhang

1 SUBATECH - Laboratoire de physique subatomique et des technologies associées

Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For Xe124 this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K shell of Xe124 using 7636 kgd of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading to a lower 90% credibility limit on the half-life T1/2>6.5×1020 yr. We have also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is currently being commissioned, and found a sensitivity of T1/2>6.1×1022 yr after an exposure of 2 tyr.

Mots clés: nucleus: decay; background; dark matter: detector; energy resolution; X-ray; time projection chamber; photomultiplier; sensitivity; Bayesian; XENON; Gran Sasso; experimental results; electron: capture; neutrino; xenon

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

E. Aprile, J. Aalbers, F. Agostini, M. Alfonsi, F.D. Amaro, et al.. Search for two-neutrino double electron capture of $^{124}$Xe with XENON100. Phys.Rev.C, 2017, 95 (2), pp.024605. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevC.95.024605⟩. ⟨hal-01555055⟩