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First Constraint on Atmospheric Millicharged Particles with the LUX-ZEPLIN Experiment

J. Aalbers1,2, D. S. Akerib1,2, A. K. Al Musalhi3, F. Alder3, C. S. Amarasinghe4, A. Ames1,2, T. J. Anderson1,2, N. Angelides5, H. M. Araújo5 et al. (The LZ Collaboration)

H. M. Araújo5, J. E. Armstrong6, M. Arthurs1,2, A. Baker7, S. Balashov8, J. Bang9, J. W. Bargemann4, E. E. Barillier10,11, D. Bauer5, K. Beattie12, T. Benson13, A. Bhatti6, A. Biekert12,14, T. P. Biesiadzinski1,2, H. J. Birch10,11, E. Bishop15, G. M. Blockinger16, B. Boxer17, C. A. J. Brew8, P. Brás18, S. Burdin19, M. Buuck1,2, M. C. Carmona-Benitez20, M. Carter19, A. Chawla21, H. Chen12, J. J. Cherwinka13, Y. T. Chin20, N. I. Chott22, M. V. Converse23, R. Coronel1,2, A. Cottle3, G. Cox24, D. Curran24, C. E. Dahl25,26, I. Darlington3, S. Dave3, A. David3, J. Delgaudio24, S. Dey27, L. de Viveiros20, L. Di Felice5, C. Ding9, J. E. Y. Dobson7, E. Druszkiewicz23, S. Dubey9, S. R. Eriksen28, A. Fan1,2, S. Fayer5, N. M. Fearon27, N. Fieldhouse27, S. Fiorucci12, H. Flaecher28, E. D. Fraser19, T. M. A. Fruth29, R. J. Gaitskell9, A. Geffre24, J. Genovesi20,22, C. Ghag3, A. Ghosh16, R. Gibbons12,14, S. Gokhale30, J. Green27, M. G. D. van der Grinten8, J. J. Haiston22, C. R. Hall6, T. J. Hall19, S. Han1,2, E. Hartigan-O’Connor9, S. J. Haselschwardt10, M. A. Hernandez10,11, S. A. Hertel31, G. Heuermann10, G. J. Homenides32, M. Horn24, D. Q. Huang33,*, D. Hunt27, E. Jacquet5, R. S. James3,‡, J. Johnson17, A. C. Kaboth21, A. C. Kamaha33, M. Kannichankandy16, D. Khaitan23, A. Khazov8, I. Khurana3, J. Kim4, Y. D. Kim34, J. Kingston17, R. Kirk9, D. Kodroff12, L. Korley10, E. V. Korolkova35, H. Kraus27, S. Kravitz36, L. Kreczko28, V. A. Kudryavtsev35, C. Lawes7, D. S. Leonard34, K. T. Lesko12, C. Levy16, J. Lin12,14, A. Lindote18, W. H. Lippincott4, M. I. Lopes18, W. Lorenzon10, C. Lu9, S. Luitz1,37, P. A. Majewski8, A. Manalaysay12, R. L. Mannino38, C. Maupin24, M. E. McCarthy23, G. McDowell10, D. N. McKinsey12,14, J. McLaughlin25, J. B. McLaughlin3, R. McMonigle16, E. Mizrachi6,38, A. Monte4, M. E. Monzani1,2,39, J. D. Morales Mendoza1,2, E. Morrison22, B. J. Mount40, M. Murdy31, A. St. J. Murphy15, A. Naylor35, H. N. Nelson4, F. Neves18, A. Nguyen15, C. L. O’Brien36, I. Olcina12,14, K. C. Oliver-Mallory5, J. Orpwood35, K. Y Oyulmaz15, K. J. Palladino27, J. Palmer21, N. J. Pannifer28, N. Parveen16, S. J. Patton12, B. Penning10,11, G. Pereira18, E. Perry3, T. Pershing38, A. Piepke32, Y. Qie23, J. Reichenbacher22, C. A. Rhyne9, A. Richards5, Q. Riffard12, G. R. C. Rischbieter10,11, E. Ritchey6, H. S. Riyat15, R. Rosero30, T. Rushton35, D. Rynders24, D. Santone21, A. B. M. R. Sazzad32, R. W. Schnee22, G. Sehr36, B. Shafer6, S. Shaw15, T. Shutt1,2, J. J. Silk6, C. Silva18, G. Sinev22, J. Siniscalco3, R. Smith12,14, V. N. Solovov18, P. Sorensen12, J. Soria12,14, I. Stancu32, A. Stevens3,5, K. Stifter26, B. Suerfu12,14, T. J. Sumner5, M. Szydagis16, D. R. Tiedt24, M. Timalsina12, Z. Tong5, D. R. Tovey35, J. Tranter35, M. Trask4, M. Tripathi17, A. Usón15, A. Vacheret5, A. C. Vaitkus9, O. Valentino5, V. Velan12, A. Wang1,2, J. J. Wang32, Y. Wang12,14, J. R. Watson12,14, L. Weeldreyer32, T. J. Whitis4, K. Wild20, M. Williams10, W. J. Wisniewski1, L. Wolf21, F. L. H. Wolfs23, S. Woodford19, D. Woodward12,20, C. J. Wright28, Q. Xia12, J. Xu38, Y. Xu33,†, M. Yeh30, D. Yeum6, W. Zha20, H. Zhang15, and E. A. Zweig33 (The LZ Collaboration)

  • 1SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025-7015, USA
  • 2Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4085, USA
  • 3University College London (UCL), Department of Physics and Astronomy, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
  • 4University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Physics, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9530, USA
  • 5Imperial College London, Physics Department, Blackett Laboratory, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
  • 6University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, Maryland 20742-4111, USA
  • 7King’s College London, Department of Physics, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom
  • 8STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 9Brown University, Department of Physics, Providence, Rhode Island 02912-9037, USA
  • 10University of Michigan, Randall Laboratory of Physics, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1040, USA
  • 11University of Zürich, Department of Physics, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 12Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, California 94720-8099, USA
  • 13University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Physics, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1390, USA
  • 14University of California, Berkeley, Department of Physics, Berkeley, California 94720-7300, USA
  • 15University of Edinburgh, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom
  • 16University at Albany (SUNY), Department of Physics, Albany, New York 12222-0100, USA
  • 17University of California, Davis, Department of Physics, Davis, California 95616-5270, USA
  • 18Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP), University of Coimbra, P-3004 516 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 19University of Liverpool, Department of Physics, Liverpool L69 7ZE, United Kingdom
  • 20Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-6300, USA
  • 21Royal Holloway, University of London, Department of Physics, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
  • 22South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701-3901, USA
  • 23University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, New York 14627-0171, USA
  • 24South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (SDSTA), Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota 57754-1700, USA
  • 25Northwestern University, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3112, USA
  • 26Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, Illinois 60510-5011, USA
  • 27University of Oxford, Department of Physics, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom
  • 28University of Bristol, H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, Bristol BS8 1TL, United Kingdom
  • 29The University of Sydney, School of Physics, Physics Road, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
  • 30Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA
  • 31University of Massachusetts, Department of Physics, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9337, USA
  • 32University of Alabama, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 34587-0324, USA
  • 33University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA
  • 34IBS Center for Underground Physics (CUP), Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea
  • 35University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom
  • 36University of Texas at Austin, Department of Physics, Austin, Texas 78712-1192, USA
  • 37Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4085, USA
  • 38Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California 94550-9698, USA
  • 39Vatican Observatory, Castel Gandolfo, V-00120, Vatican City State
  • 40Black Hills State University, School of Natural Sciences, Spearfish, South Dakota 57799-0002, USA

  • *Contact author: dqhuang@physics.ucla.edu
  • †Contact author: xuyongheng@physics.ucla.edu
  • ‡Also at The University of Melbourne, School of Physics, Melbourne, VIC3010, Australia.
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 241802 – Published 18 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/zhs9-65ds

Abstract

We report on a search for millicharged particles (mCPs) produced in cosmic ray atmospheric interactions using data collected during the first science run of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. The mCPs produced by two processes—meson decay and proton bremsstrahlung—are considered in this study. This search utilized a novel signature unique to liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chambers, allowing sensitivity to mCPs with masses ranging from 10 to 1000  MeV/c2 and fractional charges between 0.001 and 0.02 of the electron charge (e). With an exposure of 60 live days and a 5.5 metric ton fiducial mass, we observed no significant excess over background. This represents the first experimental search for atmospheric mCPs and the first search for mCPs using an underground LXe experiment.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 241802– Published 18 June, 2025
  • Received 7 December 2024
  • Revised 3 April 2025
  • Accepted 19 May 2025
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