{
  "abstract": "The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration has reported a nuclear-recoil candidate at $E_R=248\\pm23_{\\rm stat}\\pm23_{\\rm sys}$ keV, with a maximum local significance of $3.4σ$ and a global significance of $2.6σ$. A prominent interpretation invokes heavy halo dark matter near an inelastic threshold and therefore depends sensitively on the poorly constrained high-speed tail of the Galactic velocity distribution. In this Letter, we propose a qualitatively different possibility based on light boosted dark matter (BDM), whose incident energy is determined primarily by the dark-sector mass spectrum. We consider multi-component scenarios in which the boosted state scatters elastically or inelastically off xenon nuclei. For elastic scattering, pseudoscalar-mediated momentum dependence suppresses low-energy recoils. Near-threshold endothermic scattering of a nearly monochromatic BDM flux can instead confine the signal between kinematically determined recoil endpoints, suppressing events in both the low- and high-energy sidebands. The upscattered state may furthermore decay invisibly within the dark sector, preserving a single-nuclear-recoil signature without requiring it to be detector-stable. We present representative benchmark spectra and discuss complementary tests using other target nuclei and large-volume liquid-scintillator experiments.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Physical Sciences , Jazan University , Jazan 45142 , Saudi Arabia",
    "Department of Physics , University of South Dakota , Vermillion , SD 57069 , USA",
    "Department of Physics and Astronomy , University of Kansas , Lawrence , KS 66045 , USA",
    "Department of Physics and Institute for Sciences of the Universe , Chungnam National University , Daejeon 34134 , Korea"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.06890",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Haider Alhazmi",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9531-3242"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Doojin Kim"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Kyoungchul Kong",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4515-7303"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jong-Chul Park"
    },
    {
      "name": "Seodong Shin",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6956-841X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eqybhgvz6ed4b.bib",
  "cited_by": 32,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.06890",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "eqybhgvz6ed4b",
  "issns": [
    "2331-8422"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06890",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "licence_label": "CC0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ex"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212011539",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.06890",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-07",
  "publisher": "Cornell University",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eqybhgvz6ed4b.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:48Z",
      "native_id": "2609.06890",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06890"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T13:20:44Z",
      "native_id": "W7212011539",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06890"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-ex",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "High-Energy Nuclear Recoils from Boosted Dark Matter for the LZ 248-keV Event: Beyond the Halo-Dependent High-Velocity Tail",
  "title_text": "High-Energy Nuclear Recoils from Boosted Dark Matter for the LZ 248-keV Event: Beyond the Halo-Dependent High-Velocity Tail",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eqybhgvz6ed4b",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}