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First search for light fermionic dark matter absorption on electrons using germanium detector in CDEX-10 experiment

J. X. Liu1, L. T. Yang1,*, Q. Yue1,†, K. J. Kang1, Y. J. Li1, H. P. An1,2, Greeshma C.3,‡, J. P. Chang4, Y. H. Chen5 et al. (CDEX Collaboration)

Y. H. Chen5, J. P. Cheng1,6, W. H. Dai1, Z. Deng1, C. H. Fang7, X. P. Geng1, H. Gong1, Q. J. Guo8, T. Guo1, X. Y. Guo5, L. He4, J. R. He5, J. W. Hu1, H. X. Huang9, T. C. Huang10, L. Jiang1, S. Karmakar3,‡, H. B. Li3,‡, H. Y. Li7, J. M. Li1, J. Li1, M. C. Li5, Q. Y. Li7, R. M. J. Li7, X. Q. Li11, Y. L. Li1, Y. F. Liang1, B. Liao6, F. K. Lin3,‡, S. T. Lin7, S. K. Liu7, Y. D. Liu6, Y. Liu7, Y. Y. Liu6, H. Ma1, Y. C. Mao8, Q. Y. Nie1, H. Pan4, N. C. Qi5, J. Ren9, X. C. Ruan9, M. B. Shen5, M. K. Singh3,12,‡, T. X. Sun6, W. L. Sun5, C. J. Tang7, Y. Tian1, G. F. Wang6, J. Z. Wang1, L. Wang6, Q. Wang1,2, Y. F. Wang1, Y. X. Wang8, H. T. Wong3,‡, Y. C. Wu1, H. Y. Xing7, K. Z. Xiong5, R. Xu1, Y. Xu11, T. Xue1, Y. L. Yan7, N. Yi1, C. X. Yu11, H. J. Yu4, M. Zeng1, Z. Zeng1, B. T. Zhang1, F. S. Zhang6, L. Zhang7, P. Zhang5, Z. H. Zhang1, Z. Y. Zhang1, J. Z. Zhao1, K. K. Zhao7, M. G. Zhao11, J. F. Zhou5, Z. Y. Zhou9, and J. J. Zhu7 (CDEX Collaboration)

  • 1Key Laboratory of Particle and Radiation Imaging (Ministry of Education) and Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084
  • 2Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084
  • 3Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529
  • 4NUCTECH Company, Beijing 100084
  • 5YaLong River Hydropower Development Company, Chengdu 610051
  • 6School of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • 7College of Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065
  • 8School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871
  • 9Department of Nuclear Physics, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413
  • 10Sino-French Institute of Nuclear and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082
  • 11School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071
  • 12Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005

  • *Contact author: yanglt@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: yueq@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
  • ‡Participating as a member of TEXONO Collaboration.
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 032011 – Published 17 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hq9t-z4xf

Abstract

We present the first results of the search for sub-MeV fermionic dark matter absorbed by electron targets of germanium using the 205.4  kg·day data collected by the CDEX-10 experiment, with the analysis threshold of 160 eVee. No significant dark matter (DM) signals over the background are observed. Results are presented as limits on the cross section of DM–electron interaction. We present new constraints of cross section in the DM range of 0.1–10  keV/c2 for vector and axial-vector interaction. The upper limit on the cross section is set to be 6.8×10−46  cm2 for vector interaction, and 2.3×10−46  cm2 for axial-vector interaction at DM mass of 5  keV/c2.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 032011– Published 17 February, 2026
  • Received 16 April 2024
  • Revised 6 July 2025
  • Accepted 21 January 2026
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