First Constraints on WIMP-Nucleon Effective Field Theory Couplings in an Extended Energy Region From LUX-ZEPLIN

The LZ collaboration
Aalbers, J. , Akerib, D.S. , Musalhi, A.K. Al , Alder, F. , Amarasinghe, C.S. , Ames, A. , Anderson, T.J. , Angelides, N. , Araújo, H.M. , Armstrong, J.E.
Phys.Rev.D 109 (2024) 092003, 2024.

Abstract (data abstract)
Following the first science results of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating from the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA, we report the initial limits on a model-independent non-relativistic effective field theory describing the complete set of possible interactions of a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) with a nucleon. These results utilize the same 5.5 t fiducial mass and 60 live days of exposure collected for the LZ spin-independent and spin-dependent analyses while extending the upper limit of the energy region of interest by a factor of 7.5 to 270~keV. No significant excess in this high energy region is observed. Using a profile-likelihood ratio analysis, we report 90% confidence level exclusion limits on the coupling of each individual non-relativistic WIMP-nucleon operators for both elastic and inelastic interactions in the isoscalar and isovector bases.

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