Speaker
Description
We present a search for magnetic inelastic dark matter (MiDM) with XENONnT, targeting a delayed-coincidence signature that provides directional sensitivity in a liquid xenon detector. In the MiDM framework, dark matter consists of two states, $\chi$ and $\chi^*$, separated by a mass splitting $\delta$ and coupled via a magnetic dipole moment $\mu_\chi$. An inelastic scatter off a xenon nucleus produces a nuclear recoil (NR) and an excited dark matter state which, if it decays inside the active volume, emits a photon that generates a secondary electronic recoil (ER). The resulting spatially and temporally separated NR+ER pair defines a characteristic multi-site topology.
The alignment between the NR and ER vertices encodes information about the incoming dark matter direction. We compute the Galactic dark matter wind at the XENONnT site over the full data-taking period, sampled at one-minute intervals using astropy-based coordinate transformations, enabling time-dependent modeling of the expected signal alignment.
Using XENONnT’s multi-ton exposure and low electronic recoil background, we probe MiDM parameter space beyond previous searches and demonstrate the feasibility of topology- and directionality-driven analyses in liquid xenon detectors.
| Main Contribution topic | Direct detection |
|---|---|
| Secondary contribution topic | Astrophysical observations |