Search for Bosonic Super-WIMP Interactions with the XENON100 Experiment

TL;DR

This study used the XENON100 detector to search for bosonic super-WIMPs as dark matter candidates, setting new upper limits on their interactions with electrons in the keV mass range.

Contribution

First to set experimental upper limits on vector and pseudo-scalar bosonic super-WIMPs using XENON100 data in the keV mass range.

Findings

No evidence for super-WIMP signals was observed.

Established new upper limits on coupling constants for super-WIMPs.

Excluded certain parameter spaces for super-WIMPs as dark matter candidates.

Abstract

We present results of searches for vector and pseudo-scalar bosonic super-WIMPs, which are dark matter candidates with masses at the keV-scale, with the XENON100 experiment. XENON100 is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. A profile likelihood analysis of data with an exposure of 224.6 live days $\times$ 34\,kg showed no evidence for a signal above the expected background. We thus obtain new and stringent upper limits in the $(8-125)$\,keV/c$^2$ mass range, excluding couplings to electrons with coupling constants of $g_{ae} > 3\times10^{-13}$ for pseudo-scalar and $\alpha'/\alpha > 2\times10^{-28}$ for vector super-WIMPs, respectively. These limits are derived under the assumption that super-WIMPs constitute all of the dark matter in our galaxy.