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Constraints on Solar Reflected Dark Matter from XENON1T and XENONnT Data

E. Aprile1, J. Aalbers2, K. Abe3, M. Adrover4, S. Ahmed Maouloud5, L. Althueser6, B. Andrieu5, E. Angelino7, D. Antón Martin8 et al. (XENON Collaboration)

D. Antón Martin8, S. R. Armbruster9, F. Arneodo10, L. Baudis4, M. Bazyk11, L. Bellagamba12, R. Biondi7, A. Bismark4, K. Boese9, R. M. Braun6, G. Bruni12, G. Bruno11, R. Budnik13, C. Cai14, C. Capelli4, J. M. R. Cardoso15, A. P. Cimental Chávez4, A. P. Colijn16, J. Conrad17,*, J. J. Cuenca-García4, V. D’Andrea7,†, L. C. Daniel Garcia5, M. P. Decowski16, A. Deisting18, C. Di Donato19,7, P. Di Gangi12, S. Diglio11, K. Eitel20, S. el Morabit16, R. Elleboro19, A. Elykov20, A. D. Ferella19,7, C. Ferrari7, H. Fischer21, T. Flehmke17, M. Flierman16, R. Frankel13, D. Fuchs17, W. Fulgione22,7, C. Fuselli16, R. Gaior5, F. Gao14, R. Giacomobono23, F. Girard5, R. Glade-Beucke21, L. Grandi8, J. Grigat21, H. Guan24, M. Guida9, P. Gyorgy18, R. Hammann9, A. Higuera25, C. Hils18, L. Hoetzsch4, N. F. Hood26, M. Iacovacci23, Y. Itow27, J. Jakob6, F. Joerg4, Y. Kaminaga3, M. Kara20, S. Kazama27, P. Kharbanda16, M. Kobayashi27, D. Koke6, K. Kooshkjalali18, A. Kopec26,‡, H. Landsman13, R. F. Lang24, L. Levinson13, I. Li25, S. Li28, S. Liang25, Z. Liang28, Y.-T. Lin9,6, S. Lindemann21, M. Lindner9, K. Liu14, M. Liu1, J. Loizeau11, F. Lombardi18, J. A. M. Lopes15,§, G. M. Lucchetti12, T. Luce21, Y. Ma26, C. Macolino19,7, J. Mahlstedt17, F. Marignetti23, T. Marrodán Undagoitia9, K. Martens3, J. Masbou11, S. Mastroianni23, V. Mazza12, A. Melchiorre19,7, J. Merz18, M. Messina7, A. J. P. Michel20, K. Miuchi29, A. Molinario22, S. Moriyama3, K. Morå1, M. Murra1, J. Müller21, K. Ni26, C. T. Oba Ishikawa3, U. Oberlack18, S. Ouahada4, B. Paetsch13, Y. Pan5, Q. Pellegrini5, R. Peres4, J. Pienaar13, M. Pierre16, G. Plante1, T. R. Pollmann16, A. Prajapati19, L. Principe11, J. Qin25, D. Ramírez García4, A. Ravindran11, A. Razeto7, R. Singh24, L. Sanchez25, J. M. F. dos Santos15, I. Sarnoff10, G. Sartorelli12, J. Schreiner9, P. Schulte6, H. Schulze Eißing6, M. Schumann21, L. Scotto Lavina5, M. Selvi12, F. Semeria12, F. N. Semler21, P. Shagin18, S. Shi1, H. Simgen9, Z. Song30, A. Stevens21, C. Szyszka18, A. Takeda3, Y. Takeuchi29, P.-L. Tan1,∥, D. Thers11, G. Trinchero22, C. D. Tunnell25, K. Valerius20, S. Vecchi31, S. Vetter20, G. Volta9, C. Weinheimer6, M. Weiss13, D. Wenz6, C. Wittweg4, V. H. S. Wu20, Y. Xing11, D. Xu1, Z. Xu1, M. Yamashita3, J. Yang28, L. Yang26, J. Ye30, M. Yoshida3, L. Yuan8, G. Zavattini31, Y. Zhao14, M. Zhong26, and T. Zhu3 (XENON Collaboration)

  • 1Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
  • 2Nikhef and the University of Groningen, Van Swinderen Institute, 9747AG Groningen, Netherlands
  • 3Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, and Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Higashi-Mozumi, Kamioka, Hida, Gifu 506-1205, Japan
  • 4Physik-Institut, University of Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 5LPNHE, Sorbonne Université, CNRS/IN2P3, 75005 Paris, France
  • 6Institut für Kernphysik, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
  • 7INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
  • 8Department of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 9Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 10New York University Abu Dhabi—Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 11SUBATECH, IMT Atlantique, CNRS/IN2P3, Nantes Université, Nantes 44307, France
  • 12Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna and INFN-Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
  • 13Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
  • 14Department of Physics and Center for High Energy Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China
  • 15LIBPhys, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 16Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, 1098XG Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 17Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Stockholm SE-10691, Sweden
  • 18Institut für Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA+, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany
  • 19Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
  • 20Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 21Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
  • 22INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Department of Physics, University of Torino and INFN-Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
  • 23Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini,” University of Napoli and INFN-Napoli, 80126 Napoli, Italy
  • 24Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
  • 25Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
  • 26Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
  • 27Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe, and Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan
  • 28Department of Physics, School of Science, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, People’s Republic of China
  • 29Department of Physics, Kobe University, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan
  • 30School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518172, People’s Republic of China
  • 31INFN-Ferrara and Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy

  • *Contact author: conrad@fysik.su.se
  • †Also at INFN-Roma Tre, 00146 Roma, Italy.
  • ‡Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
  • §Also at Coimbra Polytechnic—ISEC, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal.
  • ∥Contact author: plt2120@columbia.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 121001 – Published 14 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/yknv-rhw9

Abstract

We report on a search for sub-GeV dark matter upscattered via the solar reflection mechanism in the heavy mediator scenario. Under the standard halo model, keV–MeV dark matter produces nuclear recoils with energies below the detection threshold of liquid xenon time projection chambers. We enhance sensitivity to low-mass dark matter (DM) by considering dark matter–electron scattering, employing dedicated event selections to reduce the detection threshold and exploiting the additional kinetic energy imparted to the dark matter particle by solar upscattering. Using XENON1T ionization-only and XENONnT low-energy electronic recoil datasets, we exclude previously unconstrained DM-electron scattering cross section for masses between 4.6 and 20  keV/c2 and between 0.2 and 2  MeV/c2, reaching a minimum of 3.41×10−39  cm2 for a mass of 0.3  MeV/c2 at 90% confidence level.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 121001– Published 14 September, 2026
  • Received 23 December 2025
  • Revised 9 July 2026
  • Accepted 27 July 2026
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