Search for Solar ^{8}B Neutrinos in the PandaX-4T Experiment Using Neutrino-Nucleus Coherent Scattering

Area of Science:

• Particle Physics
• Astrophysics
• Nuclear Physics

Background:

• Solar neutrinos, particularly boron-8 neutrinos, are crucial probes of solar fusion processes.
• Neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering offers a unique interaction channel to study neutrinos.
• The PandaX-4T experiment, a liquid xenon dark matter detector, is also sensitive to low-energy neutrino interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To search for elastic scattering of solar boron-8 neutrinos off xenon nuclei.
• To establish new limits on the solar boron-8 neutrino flux.
• To constrain the interaction cross-section between dark matter and nucleons.

Main Methods:

• Utilized PandaX-4T commissioning data with an effective exposure of 0.48 tonne-year.
• Lowered the energy threshold for event detection compared to previous dark matter searches.
• Employed various background suppression techniques and performed a blind analysis.

Main Results:

• No significant excess of events attributable to solar boron-8 neutrino interactions was observed.
• Achieved the best constraint on the solar boron-8 neutrino flux to date.
• Set a more stringent upper limit on the dark matter-nucleon cross-section for dark matter particle masses between 3 and 9 GeV/c².

Conclusions:

• The PandaX-4T experiment demonstrates sensitivity to low-energy neutrino interactions.
• The results significantly improve our understanding of solar neutrino properties.
• The findings contribute to the ongoing search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).