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Dark Matter Search Results from 4.2  Tonne−Years of Exposure of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) 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. (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. Genovesi22, 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. Haselschwardt10,12,†, 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, Meghna K. K.16, 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, and E. A. Zweig33 (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 and 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, New South Wales 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 and Astronomy, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 34587-0324, USA
  • 33University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA
  • 34IBS Center for Underground Physics (CUP), Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 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: a.cottle@ucl.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: haselsco@umich.edu
  • ‡Also at The University of Melbourne, School of Physics, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 011802 – Published 1 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4dyc-z8zf

Abstract

We report results of a search for nuclear recoils induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter using the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) two-phase xenon time projection chamber. This analysis uses a total exposure of 4.2±0.1 tonne-years from 280 live days of LZ operation, of which 3.3±0.1 tonne-years and 220 live days are new. A technique to actively tag background electronic recoils from Pb214 β decays is featured for the first time. Enhanced electron-ion recombination is observed in two-neutrino double electron capture decays of Xe124, representing a noteworthy new background. After removal of artificial signal-like events injected into the dataset to mitigate analyzer bias, we find no evidence for an excess over expected backgrounds. World-leading constraints are placed on spin-independent (SI) and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections for masses ≥9  GeV/c2. The strongest SI exclusion set is 2.2×10−48  cm2 at the 90% confidence level and the best SI median sensitivity achieved is 5.1×10−48  cm2, both for a mass of 40  GeV/c2.

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Corrections

13 August, 2025

Correction: A typographical error introduced during the production cycle in an inline equation located in the text following Table I has been fixed.

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synopsis

Dark Matter Detector Releases Best-Yet Result

Published 1 July, 2025

Seven metric tons of liquid xenon set some of the strictest constraints ever on dark matter candidates known as WIMPs.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 011802– Published 1 July, 2025
  • Received 3 November 2024
  • Revised 9 May 2025
  • Accepted 9 May 2025
  • Corrected 13 August 2025
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