ALICE is a large experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Located 52 meters underground, its detectors are suitable to measure muons produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere. In this paper, the studies of the cosmic muons registered by ALICE during Run 2 (2015--2018) are described. The analysis is limited to multimuon events defined as events with more than four detected muons ($N_\mu>4$) and in the zenith angle range $0^{\circ}<\theta<50^{\circ}$. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations using three of the main hadronic interaction models describing the air shower development in the atmosphere: QGSJET-II-04, EPOS-LHC, and SIBYLL 2.3. The interval of the primary cosmic-ray energy involved in the measured muon multiplicity distribution is about $ 4 \times 10^{15}
Muon multiplicity distribution measured with the ALICE apparatus and obtained for the whole data sample of Run 2 corresponding to a live time of 62.5 days. The data points are grouped in multiplicity intervals with a width of five units ($N_\mu=5-9,~N_\mu=10-14,~...$), and are located at the center of each interval ($N_\mu=7,~N_\mu=12,~...$). The vertical error bars represent the statistical uncertainties.
Muon multiplicity distribution measured with the ALICE apparatus and obtained for the whole data sample of Run 2 corresponding to a live time of 62.5 days. The data are the same as Fig. 3 but each bin corresponds to a single muon multiplicity ($N_\mu=1,2,3,~...$); the distribution starts at $N_\mu=5$. The vertical error bars represent the statistical uncertainties.
Measured muon multiplicity distribution compared with simulations from CORSIKA Monte Carlo generator using QGSJET-II-04 (top), SIBYLL 2.3 (middle), and EPOS-LHC (bottom) as hadronic interaction models for proton and iron primary cosmic rays. Iron points are slightly shifted to the right to avoid overlapping with the data points. The total uncertainties in the MC simulations are given by the vertical bars, while the boxes give the systematic uncertainties of the data and the vertical bars the statistical ones.
Searches for dark matter with liquid xenon time projection chamber experiments have traditionally focused on the region of the parameter space that is characteristic of weakly interacting massive particles, ranging from a few GeV/$c^2$ to a few TeV/$c^2$. Models of dark matter with a mass much heavier than this are well motivated by early production mechanisms different from the standard thermal freeze-out, but they have generally been less explored experimentally. In this work, we present a re-analysis of the first science run (SR1) of the LZ experiment, with an exposure of $0.9$ tonne$\times$year, to search for ultraheavy particle dark matter. The signal topology consists of multiple energy deposits in the active region of the detector forming a straight line, from which the velocity of the incoming particle can be reconstructed on an event-by-event basis. Zero events with this topology were observed after applying the data selection calibrated on a simulated sample of signal-like events. New experimental constraints are derived, which rule out previously unexplored regions of the dark matter parameter space of spin-independent interactions beyond a mass of 10$^{17}$ GeV/$c^2$.
Upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section from the multiple-scatter analysis.
Upper limit on the WIMP-nucleus scattering cross section from the multiple-scatter analysis.
Upper limit on the WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section from the single-scatter analysis.
The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment is a dark matter detector centered on a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. This Letter reports results from LUX-ZEPLIN's first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with an exposure of 60~live days using a fiducial mass of 5.5 t. A profile-likelihood ratio analysis shows the data to be consistent with a background-only hypothesis, setting new limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon, spin-dependent WIMP-neutron, and spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross sections for WIMP masses above 9 GeV/c$^2$. The most stringent limit is set for spin-independent scattering at 36 GeV/c$^2$, rejecting cross sections above 9.2$\times 10^{-48}$ cm$^2$ at the 90% confidence level.
90% CL WIMP SI cross sections, including sensitivities
90% CL WIMP SDn cross sections, including sensitivities and nuclear structure uncertainties
90% CL WIMP SDp cross sections, including sensitivities and nuclear structure uncertainties
In our Galaxy, light antinuclei composed of antiprotons and antineutrons can be produced through high-energy cosmic-ray collisions with the interstellar medium or could also originate from the annihilation of dark-matter particles that have not yet been discovered. On Earth, the only way to produce and study antinuclei with high precision is to create them at high-energy particle accelerators. Although the properties of elementary antiparticles have been studied in detail, the knowledge of the interaction of light antinuclei with matter is limited. We determine the disappearance probability of $^{3}\overline{\rm He}$ when it encounters matter particles and annihilates or disintegrates within the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. We extract the inelastic interaction cross section, which is then used as input to calculations of the transparency of our Galaxy to the propagation of $^{3}\overline{\rm He}$ stemming from dark-matter annihilation and cosmic-ray interactions within the interstellar medium. For a specific dark-matter profile, we estimate a transparency of about 50%, whereas it varies with increasing $^{3}\overline{\rm He}$ momentum from 25% to 90% for cosmic-ray sources. The results indicate that $^{3}\overline{\rm He}$ nuclei can travel long distances in the Galaxy, and can be used to study cosmic-ray interactions and dark-matter annihilation.
Raw primary antihelium3-to-helium3 ratio as a function of the momentum p_primary.
Raw primary antihelium3-to-helium3 ratio from Geant4-based MC simulations as a function of the momentum p_primary with default sigma_inel(3Hebar).
Raw primary antihelium3-to-helium3 ratio from Geant4-based MC simulations as a function of the momentum p_primary with sigma_inel(3Hebar)x0.5.
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