Limits on spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross section obtained from the complete LUX exposure

• Published in: arXiv.org 2017-06
• Main Authors: LUX Collaboration, Akerib, D S, Alsum, S, Araújo, H M, Bai, X, Bailey, A J, Balajthy, J, Beltrame, P, Bernard, E P, Bernstein, A, Biesiadzinski, T P, Boulton, E M, Brás, P, Byram, D, Cahn, S B, Carmona-Benitez, M C, Chan, C, Chiller, A A, Chiller, C, Currie, A, Cutter, J E, Davison, T J R, Dobi, A, Dobson, J E Y, Druszkiewicz, E, Edwards, B N, Faham, C H, Fallon, S R, Fiorucci, S, Gaitskell, R J, Gehman, V M, Ghag, C, Gilchriese, M G D, Hall, C R, Hanhardt, M, Haselschwardt, S J, Hertel, S A, Hogan, D P, Horn, M, Huang, D Q, Ignarra, C M, Jacobsen, R G, W Ji, Kamdin, K, Kazkaz, K, Khaitan, D, Knoche, R, Larsen, N A, Lee, C, Lenardo, B G, Lesko, K T, Lindote, A, Lopes, M I, Manalaysay, A, Mannino, R L, Marzioni, M F, McKinsey, D N, Mei, D M, Mock, J, Moongweluwan, M, Morad, J A, Murphy, A St J, Nehrkorn, C, Nelson, H N, Neves, F, O'Sullivan, K, Oliver-Mallory, K C, Palladino, K J, Pease, E K, Reichhart, L, Rhyne, C, Shaw, S, Shutt, T A, Silva, C, Solmaz, M, Solovov, V N, Sorensen, P, Stephenson, S, Sumner, T J, Szydagis, M, Taylor, D J, Taylor, W C, Tennyson, B P, Terman, P A, Tiedt, D R, To, W H, Tripathi, M, Tvrznikova, L, Uvarov, S, Velan, V, Verbus, J R, Webb, R C, White, J T, Whitis, T J, Witherell, M S, Wolfs, F L H, J Xu, Yazdani, K, Young, S K, Zhang, C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Likelihood ratio; Nuclear cross sections; Xenon
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1705.03380

We present experimental constraints on the spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon elastic cross sections from the total 129.5 kg-year exposure acquired by the Large Underground Xenon experiment (LUX), operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota (USA). A profile likelihood ratio analysis allows 90% CL upper limits to be set on the WIMP-neutron (WIMP-proton) cross section of \(\sigma_n\) = 1.6\(\times 10^{-41}\) cm\(^{2}\) (\(\sigma_p\) = 5\(\times 10^{-40}\) cm\(^{2}\)) at 35 GeV\(c^{-2}\), almost a sixfold improvement over the previous LUX spin-dependent results. The spin-dependent WIMP-neutron limit is the most sensitive constraint to date.