Search for Two-Neutrino Double Electron Capture of $^{124}$Xe with XENON100
Creators: name: The XENON Collaboration
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: Duchovni, E.
name: Fei, J.
name: Ferella, A. D.
name: Fieguth, A.
name: Franco, D.
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: Kessler, G.
name: Kish, A.
name: Landsman, H.
name: Lang, R. F.
name: Lellouch, D.
name: Levinson, L.
name: Calloch, M. Le
name: Levy, C.
name: Lin, Q.
name: Lindemann, S.
name: Lindner, M.
name: Lopes, J. A. M.
name: Manfredini, A.
name: Undagoitia, T. Marrodán
name: Masbou, J.
name: Massoli, F. V.
name: Masson, D.
name: Mayani, D.
name: Meng, Y.
name: Messina, M.
name: Micheneau, K.
name: Miguez, B.
name: Molinario, A.
name: Murra, M.
name: Naganoma, J.
name: Ni, K.
name: Oberlack, U.
name: Orrigo, S. E. A.
name: Pakarha, P.
name: Pelssers, B.
name: Persiani, R.
name: Piastra, F.
name: Pienaar, J.
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. D.
name: Wall, R.
name: Wang, H.
name: Weber, M.
name: Wei, Y.
name: Weinheimer, C.
name: Wulf, J.
name: Zhang, Y.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For $^{124}$Xe this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K-shell of $^{124}$Xe using 7636 kg$\cdot$d of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading to a lower 90 % credibility limit on the half-life $T_{1/2}&gt;6.5\times10^{20}$ yr. We also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is currently being commissioned, and find a sensitivity of $T_{1/2}&gt;6.1\times10^{22}$ yr after an exposure of 2 t$\cdot$yr.
description: 6 pages, 4 figures