High-Energy Nuclear Recoils from Boosted Dark Matter for the LZ 248-keV Event: Beyond the Halo-Dependent High-Velocity Tail
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration has reported a nuclear-recoil candidate at $E_R=248\pm23_{\rm stat}\pm23_{\rm sys}$ keV, with a maximum local significance of $3.4σ$ and a global significance of $2.6σ$. A prominent interpretation invokes heavy halo dark matter near an inelastic threshold and therefore depends sensitively on the poorly constrained high-speed tail of the Galactic velocity distribution. In this Letter, we propose a qualitatively different possibility based on light boosted dark matter (BDM), whose incident energy is determined primarily by the dark-sector mass spectrum. We consider multi-component scenarios in which the boosted state scatters elastically or inelastically off xenon nuclei. For elastic scattering, pseudoscalar-mediated momentum dependence suppresses low-energy recoils. Near-threshold endothermic scattering of a nearly monochromatic BDM flux can instead confine the signal between kinematically determined recoil endpoints, suppressing events in both the low- and high-energy sidebands. The upscattered state may furthermore decay invisibly within the dark sector, preserving a single-nuclear-recoil signature without requiring it to be detector-stable. We present representative benchmark spectra and discuss complementary tests using other target nuclei and large-volume liquid-scintillator experiments.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G3439883687, G4319288215
OpenAlex ID: W7212011539