HydroX, a light dark matter search with hydrogen-doped liquid xenon time projection chambers
Abstract Experimental efforts searching for dark matter particles over the last few decades have ruled out many candidates led by the new generation of tonne-scale liquid xenon. For light dark matter, hydrogen could be a better target than xenon as it would offer a better kinematic match to the low mass particles. This article describes the HydroX concept, an idea to expand the dark matter sensitivity reach of large liquid xenon detectors by adding hydrogen to the liquid xenon. We discuss the nature of signal generation in liquid xenon to argue that the signal produced at the interaction site by a dark matter–hydrogen interaction could be significantly enhanced over the same interaction on xenon, increasing the sensitivity to the lightest particles. We discuss the technical implications of adding hydrogen to a xenon detector, as well as some background considerations. Finally, we make projections as to the potential sensitivity of a HydroX implementation and discuss next steps.
Authors
- J. W. Bargemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4151-955X)
- C. E. Dahl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1637-2346)
- T. Zhang
- D. S. Akerib
- E. Jacquet
- S. Kravitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2403-9105)
- David Woodward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9133-7922)
- D. Kodroff
- A. Wang
- F. L. H. Wolfs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8693-1196)
- M. C. Carmona-Benitez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7052-2785)
- M. Trask
- E. Perry
- Ruben Coronel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9433-6119)
- J. Genovesi
- S. Dey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3517-2031)
- Dylan Temples (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6017-254X)
- C. S. Amarasinghe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7789-651X)
- H. N. Nelson
- Y. Qie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4869-3224)
- H. M. Araújo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5972-2783)
- D. Khaitan
- M. E. Monzani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8254-5308)
- K. C. Oliver-Mallory (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1087-1219)
- W. Lorenzon
- S. J. Haselschwardt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1644-9887)
- A. Manalaysay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5829-0297)
- C. Maupin
- W. H. Lippincott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7279-6090)
- A. Ames (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8249-714X)
- Rui Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3045-9969)
- S. Luitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4877-3232)
- T. Shutt
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Vatican Secret Archives (VA)
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US)
- South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (US)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Rochester (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Physics
- Published
- 2025-06-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-02168-0
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- High Energy Physics