{
  "abstract": "The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration has reported a high-energy candidate event LZ230616 with a reconstructed nuclear recoil energy $E_R=248\\pm23_{\\rm stat}\\pm23_{\\rm sys}~{\\rm keV}$. We investigate a possible interpretation in terms of inelastic scattering between two Majorana dark matter states mediated by an axionlike particle coupled to gluons. The positive mass splitting suppresses low-energy recoils, while the momentum dependence of the interaction reshapes the high-energy spectrum. We treat the dark-sector and gluonic couplings independently and retain the momentum-dependent nucleon form factors and xenon nuclear responses. Using an approximate single-event likelihood, we find that, for $m_a=0.3~{\\rm GeV}$, a narrow spectrum near the candidate energy arises at $m_χ\\simeq0.35~{\\rm TeV}$ and $δ\\simeq330~{\\rm keV}$, although this configuration requires a large coupling product and is highly sensitive to the Galactic halo speed cutoff. Our analysis establishes the kinematic and coupling requirements for subsequent tests using the thermal relic abundance and laboratory constraints on the mediator.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Astronomy , School of Physical Sciences , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei , Anhui 230026 , China",
    "School of Astronomy and Space Science , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei , Anhui 230026 , China",
    "Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy , Purple Mountain Observatory , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Nanjing 210033 , China",
    "Department of Physics , The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Shatin , New Territories , Hong Kong"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.08893",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Guan Wen Yuan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Bo Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Wen-Yu Cao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Lei Feng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ruizhi Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5801-2547"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cx8x949xadscp.bib",
  "cited_by": 27,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.08893",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "cx8x949xadscp",
  "issns": [
    "2331-8422"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08893",
  "language": "en",
  "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-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212005673",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.08893",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-08",
  "publisher": "Cornell University",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cx8x949xadscp.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:52Z",
      "native_id": "2609.08893",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08893"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T13:20:45Z",
      "native_id": "W7212005673",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08893"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ph",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "ALP-mediated inelastic dark matter and the LUX-ZEPLIN high-recoil candidate event LZ230616",
  "title_text": "ALP-mediated inelastic dark matter and the LUX-ZEPLIN high-recoil candidate event LZ230616",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:02Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cx8x949xadscp",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}