Search for WIMP Inelastic Scattering off Xenon Nuclei with XENON100

Understand

We present the first constraints on the spin-dependent, inelastic scattering cross section of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) on nucleons from XENON100 data with an exposure of 7.64$\times$10$^3$\,kg\,day.

• XENON100 is a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with 62\,kg of active mass, operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy and designed to search for nuclear recoils from WIMP-nucleus interactions.
• Here we explore inelastic scattering, where a transition to a low-lying excited nuclear state of $^{129}$Xe is induced.
• The experimental signature is a nuclear recoil observed together with the prompt de-excitation photon.