{
  "abstract": "The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration has reported a nuclear-recoil candidate with reconstructed energy $248\\pm23_{\\rm stat}\\pm23_{\\rm sys}\\,\\mathrm{keV}$. We investigate an interpretation in terms of composite inelastic dark matter, in which a dimension-ten operator splits the lightest baryon of a confining $SU(3)_{\\rm D}$ theory into two Majorana states. Endothermic scattering is mediated by a leptophobic vector coupled to baryon number. For a dark-baryon mass of $1\\,\\mathrm{TeV}$ and a splitting of $300\\,\\mathrm{keV}$, a reference nucleon cross section of $6.5\\times10^{-43}\\,\\mathrm{cm^2}$ lies within LZ's published two-sided 90\\% confidence interval. This benchmark fixes $M_V/g_B\\simeq9.9\\,\\mathrm{TeV}$, where $M_V$ and $g_B$ are the mediator mass and baryon-number gauge coupling, and is compatible with solar neutrino and dijet constraints.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.24988",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Francesco Sannino"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jessica Turner"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6cdgqtx49z61s.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.24988",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6cdgqtx49z61s",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24988",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ex"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-lat"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214052590",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.24988",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-21",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6cdgqtx49z61s.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:20Z",
      "native_id": "2609.24988",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24988"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ex",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Interpreting the LZ 248 keV Event using Dark QCD",
  "title_text": "Interpreting the LZ 248 keV Event using Dark QCD",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:20Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6cdgqtx49z61s",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}