The scintillation and ionization yield of liquid xenon for nuclear recoils

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2009

Authors

Sorensen, P (Author) Other; Manzur, A (Author) Other; Dahl, CE (Author) Other; Angle, J (Author) Other; Aprile, E (Author) Other; Arneodo, F (Author) Other; Baudis, L (Author) Other; Bernstein, A (Author) Other; Bolozdynya, A (Author) Other; Coelho, LCC (Author) Other; DeViveiros, L (Author) Other; Ferella, AD (Author) Other; Fernandes, LMP (Author) Other; Fiorucci, S (Author) Other; Gaitskell, RJ (Author) Other; Giboni, KL (Author) Other; Gomez, R (Author) Other; Hasty, R (Author) Other; Kastens, L (Author) Other; Kwong, J (Author) Other; Lopes, JAM (Author) Other; Madden, N (Author) Other; Manalaysay, A (Author) Other; McKinsey, DN (Author) Other; Monzani, ME (Author) Other; Ni, K (Author) Other; Oberlack, U (Author) Other; Orboeck, J (Author) Other; Plante, G (Author) Other; Santorelli, R (Author) Other; dos Santos, JMF (Author) Other; Shagin, P (Author) Other; Shutt, T (Author) Other; Schulte, S (Author) Other; Winant, C (Author) Other; Yamashita, M (Author) Other

Journal

Title: NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION A-ACCELERATORS SPECTROMETERS DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT

Vol. 601

Pages: 339-346

ISSN: 0168-9002

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 59 Citations

Scopus - 68 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-M9J

DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2008.12.197

Abstract (EN): XENON10 is an experiment designed to directly detect particle dark matter. It is a dual phase (liquid/gas) xenon time-projection chamber with 3D position imaging. Particle interactions generate a primary scintillation signal (S1) and ionization signal (S2), which are both functions of the deposited recoil energy and the incident particle type. We present a new precision measurement of the relative scintillation yield L(eff) and the absolute ionization yield 2, for nuclear recoils in xenon. A dark matter particle is expected to deposit energy by scattering from a xenon nucleus. Knowledge of L(eff) is therefore crucial for establishing the energy threshold of the experiment; this in turn determines the sensitivity to particle dark matter. Our L(eff) measurement is in agreement with recent theoretical predictions above 15 keV nuclear recoil energy, and the energy threshold of the measurement is similar to 4 keV. A knowledge of the ionization yield 2(y) is necessary to establish the trigger threshold of the experiment. The ionization yield 2(y) is measured in two ways, both in agreement with previous measurements and with a factor of 10 lower energy threshold.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8