{
  "abstract": "LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) has reported one event compatible with a $248~\\mathrm{keV}$ nuclear recoil. While initial attention has focused on inelastic dark matter, that interpretation depends sensitively on the uncertain high-speed tail of the Galactic halo. We develop instead an elastic realisation of the pseudoscalar-pseudoscalar interaction $L_4=(\\barχiγ^5χ)(\\bar N iγ^5N)$, whose contact templates give one of the largest local significances identified by LZ. The minimal model presented involves Dirac fermion dark matter and a pseudoscalar mediator. The pseudoscalar arises from a complex singlet and the minimal gauge-invariant UV completion also requires a single multi-TeV vector-like heavy quark. A representative model which realises thermal freeze-out has $m_χ\\sim 400~{\\rm GeV}$ and $m_a\\sim 1~{\\rm GeV}$. The simplest model breaks from the isoscalar/isovector assumption, and the recoil spectrum lies between LZ's elastic $O_4^v$ and contact $L_4^v$ templates, suggesting a local significance of $2.6$-$3.2σ$.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Physics , University of Illinois Chicago , Chicago , IL 60607 , USA and Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics ,",
    "University of Oxford , OX1 3NP , UK"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.04186",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "James Unwin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4175-6846"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bev1bwxw32f95.bib",
  "cited_by": 55,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.04186",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "bev1bwxw32f95",
  "issns": [
    "2331-8422"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04186",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7208750217",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.04186",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-03",
  "publisher": "Cornell University",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bev1bwxw32f95.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
      "native_id": "2609.04186",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04186"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T13:20:44Z",
      "native_id": "W7208750217",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04186"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ph",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Axion Portal Dark Matter and the LUX-ZEPLIN High-Recoil Event",
  "title_text": "Axion Portal Dark Matter and the LUX-ZEPLIN High-Recoil Event",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-07T13:20:44Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bev1bwxw32f95",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}