Status and first results from XENONnT

TL;DR

XENONnT is a next-generation dark matter detector with multi-tonne liquid Xenon, aiming to improve sensitivity and background rejection over its predecessor XENON1T, and is currently in the initial operational phase.

Contribution

This paper reports the first results and current status of the XENONnT experiment, highlighting its improved background mitigation and readiness for dark matter detection.

Findings

XENONnT has started data collection with reduced background levels.

The detector utilizes 5.9 tons of liquid Xenon for enhanced sensitivity.

Initial results show promising background suppression techniques.

Abstract

XENON is a project for direct dark matter search located in the INFN underground laboratory LNGS. The previous generation of XENON detector, XENON1T, achieved an exposure of 1 ton$\times$year, setting the most stringent limits on the spin-independent scattering cross section of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) on nucleons for nearly the complete range of WIMP masses above $120$ MeV. The multi-tonne XENONnT detector is the next step in the evolution of the XENON project. The experiment, aimed at directly detecting WIMPs, utilizes $5.9~t$ of instrumented liquid Xenon (LXe). The expected overall background in the detector is based on dedicated screening results of all detector materials. In contrast, improvements in mitigating intrinsic backgrounds from electronic recoil sources allow XENONnT to reduce this background compared to its predecessor. Adding a neutron veto around the XENONnT cryostat also allows for a significant rejection of the neutron background. XENONnT aims at achieving a 20 ton$\times$year exposure over its lifetime. The talk summarised the main results of XENON1T and the status of XENONnT.