Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

@article{akerib2026searches,
  title = {{Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment}},
  author = {D. S. Akerib and A. K. Al Musalhi and Fiona Alder and B. J. Almquist and C. S. Amarasinghe and A. Ames and Tyler Anderson and N. Angelides and Henrique M. Araújo and J. E. Armstrong and M. Arthurs and A. Baker and S. Balashov and J. Bang and J. W. Bargemann and E. E. Barillier and Jochen Barthel and Daniela U. Bauer and K. Beattie and A. Bhatti and Tomasz P. Biesiadzinski and H. J. Birch and E. Bishop and G. M. Blockinger and C. Brew and P. Brás and Sergey V. Burdin and M. C. Carmona-Benitez and M. Carter and A. Chawla and H. Chen and Y. T. Chin and N. I. Chott and S. Contreras and M. V. Converse and R. Coronel and A. Cottle and G. A. Cox and D. Curran and C. E. Dahl and I. Darlington and S. Dave and A. David and J. Davis and J. Delgaudio and S. Dey and L. de Viveiros and L. Di Felice and C. Ding and J. E. Y. Dobson and E. Druszkiewicz and S. Dubey and C. L. Dunbar and S. R. Eriksen and S. Fayer and N. M. Fearon and N. Fieldhouse and S. Fiorucci and H. Flaecher and E. D. Fraser},
  journal = {Physical Review Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1103/jvqf-njpj},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1103/jvqf-njpj},
  note = {CC BY},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment
AU  - D. S. Akerib
AU  - A. K. Al Musalhi
AU  - Fiona Alder
AU  - B. J. Almquist
AU  - C. S. Amarasinghe
AU  - A. Ames
AU  - Tyler Anderson
AU  - N. Angelides
AU  - Henrique M. Araújo
AU  - J. E. Armstrong
AU  - M. Arthurs
AU  - A. Baker
AU  - S. Balashov
AU  - J. Bang
AU  - J. W. Bargemann
AU  - E. E. Barillier
AU  - Jochen Barthel
AU  - Daniela U. Bauer
AU  - K. Beattie
AU  - A. Bhatti
AU  - Tomasz P. Biesiadzinski
AU  - H. J. Birch
AU  - E. Bishop
AU  - G. M. Blockinger
AU  - C. Brew
AU  - P. Brás
AU  - Sergey V. Burdin
AU  - M. C. Carmona-Benitez
AU  - M. Carter
AU  - A. Chawla
AU  - H. Chen
AU  - Y. T. Chin
AU  - N. I. Chott
AU  - S. Contreras
AU  - M. V. Converse
AU  - R. Coronel
AU  - A. Cottle
AU  - G. A. Cox
AU  - D. Curran
AU  - C. E. Dahl
AU  - I. Darlington
AU  - S. Dave
AU  - A. David
AU  - J. Davis
AU  - J. Delgaudio
AU  - S. Dey
AU  - L. de Viveiros
AU  - L. Di Felice
AU  - C. Ding
AU  - J. E. Y. Dobson
AU  - E. Druszkiewicz
AU  - S. Dubey
AU  - C. L. Dunbar
AU  - S. R. Eriksen
AU  - S. Fayer
AU  - N. M. Fearon
AU  - N. Fieldhouse
AU  - S. Fiorucci
AU  - H. Flaecher
AU  - E. D. Fraser
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/16
JO  - Physical Review Letters
DO  - 10.1103/jvqf-njpj
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1103/jvqf-njpj
AB  - We present searches for light dark matter (DM) with masses 3-9 GeV/c^{2} in the presence of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) from ^{8}B solar neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. This analysis uses a 5.7 tonne-yr exposure with data collected between March 2023 and April 2025. In an energy range spanning 1-6 keV, we report no significant excess of events attributable to dark matter nuclear recoils, but we observe a significant signal from ^{8}B CEνNS interactions that is consistent with expectation. We set world-leading limits on spin-independent and spin-dependent-neutron DM-nucleon interactions for masses down to 5 GeV/c^{2}. In the no-dark-matter scenario, we observe a signal consistent with ^{8}B CEνNS events, corresponding to a 4.5σ statistical significance. This is the most significant evidence of ^{8}B CEνNS interactions and is enabled by robust background modeling and mitigation techniques. This demonstrates LZ's ability to detect rare signals at keV-scale energies.
SN  - 0031-9007
SN  - 1079-7114
SN  - 1092-0145
ER  -