Two-neutrino double electron capture is a process allowed in the Standard Model of Particle Physics. This rare decay has been observed in $$^{78}$$Kr, $$^{130}$$Ba and more recently in $$^{124}$$Xe. In this publication we report on the search for this process in $$^{124}$$Xe and $$^{126}$$Xe using the full exposure of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment, in a total of of 27769.5~kg-days. No evidence of a signal was observed, allowing us to set 90\% C.L. lower limits for the half-lives of these decays of $$2.0\times10^{21}$$~years for $$^{124}$$Xe and $$1.9\times10^{21}$$~years for $$^{126}$$Xe.
Akerib, D. S., et al. "Search for two neutrino double electron capture of <sup>124</sup>Xe and <sup>126</sup>Xe in the full exposure of the LUX detector." Journal of Physics. G, Nuclear and Particle Physics, vol. 47, no. 10, Sep. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ab9c2d
Akerib, D. S., Alsum, S., Araújo, H. M., Bai, X., Balajthy, J., Baxter, A., Bernard, E. P., Bernstein, A., Biesiadzinski, T. P., Boulton, E. M., Boxer, B., Brás, P., Burdin, S., Byram, D., Carmona-Benitez, M. C., Chan, C., Cutter, J. E., de Viveiros, L., ... Zhang, C. (2020). Search for two neutrino double electron capture of <sup>124</sup>Xe and <sup>126</sup>Xe in the full exposure of the LUX detector. Journal of Physics. G, Nuclear and Particle Physics, 47(10). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ab9c2d
Akerib, D. S., Alsum, S., Araújo, H. M., et al., "Search for two neutrino double electron capture of <sup>124</sup>Xe and <sup>126</sup>Xe in the full exposure of the LUX detector," Journal of Physics. G, Nuclear and Particle Physics 47, no. 10 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ab9c2d
@article{osti_1597732,
author = {Akerib, D. S. and Alsum, S. and Araújo, H. M. and Bai, X. and Balajthy, J. and Baxter, A. and Bernard, E. P. and Bernstein, A. and Biesiadzinski, T. P. and Boulton, E. M. and others},
title = {Search for two neutrino double electron capture of <sup>124</sup>Xe and <sup>126</sup>Xe in the full exposure of the LUX detector},
annote = {Two-neutrino double electron capture is a process allowed in the Standard Model of Particle Physics. This rare decay has been observed in $^{78}$Kr, $^{130}$Ba and more recently in $^{124}$Xe. In this publication we report on the search for this process in $^{124}$Xe and $^{126}$Xe using the full exposure of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment, in a total of of 27769.5~kg-days. No evidence of a signal was observed, allowing us to set 90\% C.L. lower limits for the half-lives of these decays of $2.0\times10^{21}$~years for $^{124}$Xe and $1.9\times10^{21}$~years for $^{126}$Xe.},
doi = {10.1088/1361-6471/ab9c2d},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1597732},
journal = {Journal of Physics. G, Nuclear and Particle Physics},
issn = {ISSN 0954-3899},
number = {10},
volume = {47},
place = {United States},
publisher = {IOP Publishing},
year = {2020},
month = {09}}
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY (United States); Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
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