Search for Light Dark Matter with 259 Days of Data in PandaX-4T

Minzhen Zhang¹, Zihao Bo², Wei Chen², Xun Chen^{1

3

4}, Yunhua Chen^{4

5}, Chen Cheng⁶, Xiangyi Cui¹, Manna Deng⁷, Yingjie Fan⁸, Deqing Fang⁹, Xuanye Fu², Zhixing Gao², Yujie Ge⁷, Lisheng Geng^{6

10

11

12}, Karl Giboni^{2

4}, Xunan Guo⁶, Xuyuan Guo^{4

5}, Zichao Guo⁶, Chencheng Han¹, Ke Han^{2

3

4}, Changda He², Jinrong He⁵, Houqi Huang¹³, Junting Huang^{2

4}, Yule Huang², Ruquan Hou^{3

4}, Xiangdong Ji¹⁴, Yonglin Ju^{4

15}, Xiaorun Lan¹⁶, Chenxiang Li², Jiafu Li¹⁷, Mingchuan Li^{4

5}, Peiyuan Li², Shuaijie Li^{2

4

5}, Tao Li¹³, Yangdong Li², Zhiyuan Li⁷, Qing Lin^{16

18}, Jianglai Liu^{1

3

4

19}, Yuanchun Liu², Congcong Lu¹⁵, Xiaoying Lu^{20

21}, Lingyin Luo²², Yunyang Luo¹⁶, Yugang Ma⁹, Yajun Mao²², Yue Meng^{2

3

4}, Binyu Pang^{20

21}, Ningchun Qi^{4

5}, Zhicheng Qian², Xiangxiang Ren^{20

21}, Dong Shan²³, Xiaofeng Shang², Xiyuan Shao²³, Guofang Shen⁶, Manbin Shen^{4

5}, Wenliang Sun^{4

5}, Xuyan Sun², Yi Tao²⁴, Yueqiang Tian⁶, Yuxin Tian², Anqing Wang^{20

21}, Guanbo Wang², Hao Wang², Haoyu Wang², Jiamin Wang¹, Lei Wang²⁵, Meng Wang^{20

21}, Qiuhong Wang⁹, Shaobo Wang^{2

4

13}, Shibo Wang¹⁵, Siguang Wang²², Wei Wang^{7

17}, Xu Wang¹, Zhou Wang^{1

3

4}, Yuehuan Wei⁷, Weihao Wu^{2

4}, Yuan Wu², Mengjiao Xiao², Xiang Xiao¹⁷, Kaizhi Xiong^{4

5}, Jianqin Xu², Yifan Xu¹⁵, Shunyu Yao¹³, Binbin Yan¹, Xiyu Yan²⁶, Yong Yang^{2

4}, Peihua Ye², Chunxu Yu²³, Ying Yuan², Zhe Yuan⁹, Youhui Yun², Xinning Zeng², Peng Zhang^{4

5}, Shibo Zhang¹, Siyuan Zhang¹⁷, Shu Zhang¹⁷, Tao Zhang^{1

3

4}, Wei Zhang¹, Yang Zhang^{20

21}, Yingxin Zhang^{20

21}, Yuanyuan Zhang¹, Li Zhao^{1

3

4}, Kangkang Zhao¹, Jifang Zhou^{4

5}, Jiaxu Zhou¹³, Jiayi Zhou¹, Ning Zhou^{1

3

4}, Xiaopeng Zhou⁶, Zhizhen Zhou², Chenhui Zhu¹⁶; PandaX Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MoE), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201210, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MoE), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
³ Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sichuan Research Institute, Chengdu 610213, China.
⁴ Jinping Deep Underground Frontier Science and Dark Matter Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Liangshan 615000, China.
⁵ Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Limited, 288 Shuanglin Road, Chengdu 610051, China.
⁶ School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 102206, China.
⁷ Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China.
⁸ Department of Physics, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
¹⁰ Peng Huanwu Collaborative Center for Research and Education, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
¹¹ International Research Center for Nuclei and Particles in the Cosmos and Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Materials and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
¹² Southern Center for Nuclear-Science Theory (SCNT), Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huizhou 516000, China.
¹³ SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
¹⁵ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
¹⁶ University of Science and Technology of China, Department of Modern Physics, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁷ School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
¹⁸ University of Science and Technology of China, State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁹ New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201210, China.
²⁰ Research Center for Particle Science and Technology, Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
²¹ Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
²² School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
²³ School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
²⁴ School of Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China.
²⁵ College of Nuclear Technology and Automation Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China.
²⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China.

PMID: 41349086
DOI: 10.1103/rtnh-jn8s

Search for Light Dark Matter with 259 Days of Data in PandaX-4T

Minzhen Zhang et al. Phys Rev Lett. 2025.

. 2025 Nov 21;135(21):211001.

doi: 10.1103/rtnh-jn8s.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MoE), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201210, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MoE), Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
³ Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sichuan Research Institute, Chengdu 610213, China.
⁴ Jinping Deep Underground Frontier Science and Dark Matter Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Liangshan 615000, China.
⁵ Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Limited, 288 Shuanglin Road, Chengdu 610051, China.
⁶ School of Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 102206, China.
⁷ Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China.
⁸ Department of Physics, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
¹⁰ Peng Huanwu Collaborative Center for Research and Education, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
¹¹ International Research Center for Nuclei and Particles in the Cosmos and Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Materials and Physics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
¹² Southern Center for Nuclear-Science Theory (SCNT), Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huizhou 516000, China.
¹³ SJTU Paris Elite Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
¹⁵ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
¹⁶ University of Science and Technology of China, Department of Modern Physics, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁷ School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
¹⁸ University of Science and Technology of China, State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics, Hefei 230026, China.
¹⁹ New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201210, China.
²⁰ Research Center for Particle Science and Technology, Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
²¹ Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation of Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China.
²² School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
²³ School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
²⁴ School of Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China.
²⁵ College of Nuclear Technology and Automation Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China.
²⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China.

PMID: 41349086
DOI: 10.1103/rtnh-jn8s

Abstract

We present a search for light dark matter particles through their interactions with atomic electrons and nucleons, utilizing PandaX-4T data with an effective exposure of 1.04 tonne·year for ionization-only data and 1.20 tonne·year for paired data. Our analysis focuses on the energy range (efficiency >0.01) of approximately 0.33 to 3 keV for nuclear recoils and from 0.04 to 0.39 keV for electronic recoils. We establish the most stringent constraints on spin-independent dark matter-nucleon interactions within a mass range of 2.5-5.0 GeV/c^{2}, spin-dependent neutron-only interactions within 1.0-5.6 GeV/c^{2}, and spin-dependent proton-only interactions within 1.0-4.1 GeV/c^{2}. Their corresponding limits at 3 GeV/c^{2} are 1.1×10^{-43}, 8.4×10^{-40}, and 2.8×10^{-38} cm^{2}, respectively. Additionally, our results improve the upper limits on the dark matter-electron scattering cross section by a factor of 1.5 and 9.3 for heavy and light mediator scenarios, respectively, within 50 MeV/c^{2} to 10 GeV/c^{2}, compared with previous best results. The improved limits reach 1.5×10^{-41} and 5.6×10^{-37} cm^{2} at 200 MeV/c^{2} for the heavy and light mediators, respectively.

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Search for Light Dark Matter with 259 Days of Data in PandaX-4T

Affiliations

Search for Light Dark Matter with 259 Days of Data in PandaX-4T

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources