112 research outputs found
Radiogenic and Muon-Induced Backgrounds in the LUX Dark Matter Detector
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment aims to detect rare
low-energy interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The
radiogenic backgrounds in the LUX detector have been measured and compared with
Monte Carlo simulation. Measurements of LUX high-energy data have provided
direct constraints on all background sources contributing to the background
model. The expected background rate from the background model for the 85.3 day
WIMP search run is
~events~keV~kg~day
in a 118~kg fiducial volume. The observed background rate is
~events~keV~kg~day,
consistent with model projections. The expectation for the radiogenic
background in a subsequent one-year run is presented.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures / 17 images, submitted to Astropart. Phy
Signal yields, energy resolution, and recombination fluctuations in liquid xenon
This work presents an analysis of monoenergetic electronic recoil peaks in
the dark-matter-search and calibration data from the first underground science
run of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) detector. Liquid xenon charge and
light yields for electronic recoil energies between 5.2 and 661.7 keV are
measured, as well as the energy resolution for the LUX detector at those same
energies. Additionally, there is an interpretation of existing measurements and
descriptions of electron-ion recombination fluctuations in liquid xenon as
limiting cases of a more general liquid xenon re- combination fluctuation
model. Measurements of the standard deviation of these fluctuations at
monoenergetic electronic recoil peaks exhibit a linear dependence on the number
of ions for energy deposits up to 661.7 keV, consistent with previous LUX
measurements between 2-16 keV with H. We highlight similarities in liquid
xenon recombination for electronic and nuclear recoils with a comparison of
recombination fluctuations measured with low-energy calibration data.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, 3 table
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