Search for WIMP Inelastic Scattering off Xenon Nuclei with XENON100
Creators: name: Aprile, E.
name: Aalbers, J.
name: Agostini, F.
name: Alfonsi, M.
name: Amaro, F. D.
name: Anthony, M.
name: Arneodo, F.
name: Barrow, P.
name: Baudis, L.
name: Bauermeister, B.
name: Benabderrahmane, M. L.
name: Berger, T.
name: Breur, P. A.
name: Brown, A.
name: Brown, E.
name: Bruenner, S.
name: Bruno, G.
name: Budnik, R.
name: Bütikofer, L.
name: Calvén, J.
name: Cardoso, J. M. R.
name: Cervantes, M.
name: Cichon, D.
name: Coderre, D.
name: Colijn, A. P.
name: Conrad, J.
name: Cussonneau, J. P.
name: Decowski, M. P.
name: de Perio, P.
name: Di Gangi, P.
name: Di Giovanni, A.
name: Diglio, S.
name: Eurin, G.
name: Fei, J.
name: Ferella, A. D.
name: Fieguth, A.
name: Fulgione, W.
name: Rosso, A. Gallo
name: Galloway, M.
name: Gao, F.
name: Garbini, M.
name: Geis, C.
name: Goetzke, L. W.
name: Greene, Z.
name: Grignon, C.
name: Hasterok, C.
name: Hogenbirk, E.
name: Itay, R.
name: Kaminsky, B.
name: Kazama, S.
name: Kessler, G.
name: Kish, A.
name: Landsman, H.
name: Lang, R. F.
name: Lellouch, D.
name: Levinson, L.
name: Lin, Q.
name: Lindemann, S.
name: Lindner, M.
name: Lombardi, F.
name: Lopes, J. A. M.
name: Manfredini, A.
name: Maris, I.
name: Undagoitia, T. Marrodán
name: Masbou, J.
name: Massoli, F. V.
name: Masson, D.
name: Mayani, D.
name: Messina, M.
name: Micheneau, K.
name: Molinario, A.
name: Mora, K.
name: Murra, M.
name: Naganoma, J.
name: Ni, K.
name: Oberlack, U.
name: Pakarha, P.
name: Pelssers, B.
name: Persiani, R.
name: Piastra, F.
name: Pienaar, J.
name: Pizzella, V.
name: Piro, M. -C.
name: Plante, G.
name: Priel, N.
name: Rauch, L.
name: Reichard, S.
name: Reuter, C.
name: Rizzo, A.
name: Rosendahl, S.
name: Rupp, N.
name: Santos, J. M. F. dos
name: Sartorelli, G.
name: Scheibelhut, M.
name: Schindler, S.
name: Schreiner, J.
name: Schumann, M.
name: Lavina, L. Scotto
name: Selvi, M.
name: Shagin, P.
name: Silva, M.
name: Simgen, H.
name: Sivers, M. v.
name: Stein, A.
name: Thers, D.
name: Tiseni, A.
name: Trinchero, G.
name: Tunnell, C.
name: Vargas, M.
name: Wang, H.
name: Wang, Z.
name: Wei, Y.
name: Weinheimer, C.
name: Wulf, J.
name: Ye, J.
name: Zhang, Y.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present the first constraints on the spin-dependent, inelastic scattering cross section of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) on nucleons from XENON100 data with an exposure of 7.64$\times$10$^3$\,kg\,day. XENON100 is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with 62\,kg of active mass, operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy and designed to search for nuclear recoils from WIMP-nucleus interactions. Here we explore inelastic scattering, where a transition to a low-lying excited nuclear state of $^{129}$Xe is induced. The experimental signature is a nuclear recoil observed together with the prompt de-excitation photon. We see no evidence for such inelastic WIMP-$^{129}$Xe interactions. A profile likelihood analysis allows us to set a 90\% C.L. upper limit on the inelastic, spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross section of $3.3 \times 10^{-38}$\,cm$^{2}$ at 100\,GeV/c$^2$. This is the most constraining result to date, and sets the pathway for an analysis of this interaction channel in upcoming, larger dual-phase xenon detectors.