Search for Solar Boosted Dark Matter Particles at the PandaX-4T Experiment
We present a novel constraint on light dark matter utilizing 1.54 metric ton/year of data acquired from the PandaX-4T dual-phase xenon time projection chamber. This constraint is derived through detecting electronic recoil signals resulting from the interaction with solar-enhanced dark matter flux. Low-mass dark matter particles, lighter than a few MeV/c^{2}, can scatter with the thermal electrons in the Sun. Consequently, with higher kinetic energy, the boosted dark matter component becomes detectable via contact scattering with xenon electrons, resulting in a few keV energy deposition that exceeds the threshold of PandaX-4T. We calculate the expected recoil energy in PandaX-4T considering the Sun's acceleration with heavy mediators and the detection capabilities of the xenon detector. The first experimental search results using the xenon detector yield the most stringent upper limits cross section of 3.51×10^{-39} cm^{2} at 0.08 MeV/c^{2} for a solar boosted dark matter mass ranging from 0.02 to 10 MeV/c^{2}, achieving a 23-fold improvement compared with earlier experimental studies.
Authors
- Xiangpan Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0579-8467)
- Mengjiao Xiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6397-617X)
- Wei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3816-7941)
- K. Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1609-7367)
- Yonglin Ju (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9534-787X)
- Lingyin Luo
- Haipeng An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5431-6025)
- Chenxiang Li
- J. Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1800-6761)
- Yunhua Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5543-8152)
- Ruquan Hou
- Binbin Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6775-9132)
- Zhaokan Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8197-9174)
- Zhixing Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1529-1145)
- Peihua Ye
- Jinrong He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4040-4766)
- Peng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5345-3810)
- Shunyu Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6683-2713)
- Yuan Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6173-2801)
- Xiaopeng Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2031-0175)
- Ningchun Qi
- Xun Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8792-2398)
- Zhizhen Zhou
- Yi Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6424-8131)
- Jiaxu Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7720-0700)
- Xuyang Ning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1072-2157)
- Mingchuan Li
- Zhe Yuan
- Shuaijie Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1172-5168)
- Yue Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9601-1983)
- Chencheng Han
- T. Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3827-6999)
- Yifan Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6455-1985)
- Haoming Nie
- Xiaoying Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3777-2472)
- Yunyang Luo
- Yubo Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0694-3697)
- Meng Wang
- Yuanyuan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4475-5284)
- Dong Shan
- Yingjie 英杰 Fan 樊 (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7991-9057)
- Tao Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7216-0423)
- Zhou Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5188-5609)
- Xiuli Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0308-1403)
- Ying Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9530-4725)
- Shu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4137-0748)
- Yu Hou
- Shaobo Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7945-1466)
- Li Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6269-6782)
- Qiuhong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3789-445X)
- Jifang Zhou
- Hao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9166-8521)
- Jiayi Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7204-2662)
- Zichao Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1544-9305)
- Yingxin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7586-2746)
- Weihao Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6239-2984)
- Jiafu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6500-887X)
- Zhicheng Qian
- Xinning Zeng
- Wenliang Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2137-9123)
- Guanbo Wang
- Manbin Shen
- Di Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0486-6593)
- Xiangdong Ji
- Xiaofeng Shang
- Deqing Fang
- Changda He
- Yuehuan Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4753-5666)
- Xiyuan Shao
- Xunan Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1023-949X)
- Anqing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1478-3897)
- Xiangxiang Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1536-3344)
- Wei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9096-2913)
- Guofang Shen
- Siguang Wang
- N. Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1775-2511)
- Zhiyuan Li
- Congcong Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0149-0613)
- Qing Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9049-3292)
- Xiangyi Cui
- Xuyuan Guo
- Minzhen Zhang
- Youhui Yun
- Wenbo Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4767-7209)
- Yugang Ma
- Kaizhi Xiong
- Karl Giboni
- Xu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1793-047X)
- Lisheng Geng
- Binyu Pang
- Lei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8996-5340)
- Houqi Huang
- Yajun Mao
- Xiang Xiao
- Chunxu Yu
- Xiyu Yan
- Shibo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1545-8106)
- Wei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4280-7563)
- Jianglai Liu
- Zihao Bo
- Yang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3588-4702)
- Yong Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4241-9972)
- Jiamin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1697-4578)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Shandong University (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Yantai University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Nankai University (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Chengdu University of Technology (CN)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Beihang University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-04-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.161003
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Tencent
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
- CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics
- National Science and Technology Major Project
- Office of Science
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities