Dr. Kimberly Palladino: Publications

Pushing the limits of pulse shape discrimination in a large liquid xenon detector

European Physical Journal C 86:9 (2026) 1060

Authors:

DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, BJ Almquist, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, TJ Anderson, N Angelides, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, A Baker, S Balashov, J Bang, JW Bargemann, EE Barillier, K Beattie, A Bhatti, TP Biesiadzinski, HJ Birch, E Bishop, GM Blockinger, CAJ Brew, P Brás, S Burdin, MC Carmona-Benitez, M Carter, A Chawla, H Chen, YT Chin, NI Chott, S Contreras, MV Converse, R Coronel, A Cottle, G Cox, D Curran, CE Dahl, I Darlington, S Dave, A David, J Delgaudio, S Dey, L de Viveiros, L Di Felice, C Ding, JEY Dobson, E Druszkiewicz, S Dubey, CL Dunbar, SR Eriksen, NM Fearon, N Fieldhouse, S Fiorucci, H Flaecher, ED Fraser, TMA Fruth, PW Gaemers, RJ Gaitskell, A Geffre, J Genovesi, C Ghag, J Ghamsari, A Ghosh, S Ghosh, R Gibbons, S Gokhale, J Green, MGD van der Grinten, JJ Haiston, CR Hall, T Hall, RN Hampp, SJ Haselschwardt, MA Hernandez, SA Hertel, GJ Homenides, M Horn, DQ Huang, D Hunt, E Jacquet, RS James, K Jenkins, AC Kaboth, AC Kamaha, MK Kannichankandy, D Khaitan, A Khazov, J Kim, YD Kim, D Kodroff, EV Korolkova, H Kraus, S Kravitz, L Kreczko, VA Kudryavtsev, C Lawes, EB Leon, DS Leonard, KT Lesko, C Levy, J Lin, A Lindote, WH Lippincott, J Long, MI Lopes, W Lorenzon, C Lu, S Luitz, W Ma, V Mahajan, PA Majewski, A Manalaysay, RL Mannino, RJ Matheson, C Maupin, ME McCarthy, DN McKinsey, J McLaughlin, JB McLaughlin, R McMonigle, B Mitra, E Mizrachi, ME Monzani, K Morå, E Morrison, BJ Mount, M Murdy, A St. J. Murphy, HN Nelson, F Neves, A Nguyen, CL O’Brien, FH O’Shea, I Olcina, KC Oliver-Mallory, J Orpwood, KY Oyulmaz, KJ Palladino, NJ Pannifer, SJ Patton, B Penning, G Pereira, E Perry, T Pershing, A Piepke, SS Poudel, Y Qie, J Reichenbacher, CA Rhyne, GRC Rischbieter, E Ritchey, HS Riyat, R Rosero, NJ Rowe, T Rushton, D Rynders, S Saltão, D Santone, ABMR Sazzad, RW Schnee, G Sehr, B Shafer, S Shaw, W Sherman, K Shi, T Shutt, C Silva, G Sinev, J Siniscalco, AM Slivar, AM Softley-Brown, VN Solovov, P Sorensen, J Soria, TJ Sumner, A Swain, M Szydagis, DR Tiedt, DR Tovey, J Tranter, M Trask, K Trengove, M Tripathi, A Usón, AC Vaitkus, O Valentino, V Velan, A Wang, JJ Wang, Y Wang, L Weeldreyer, TJ Whitis, K Wild, M Williams, J Winnicki, L Wolf, FLH Wolfs, S Woodford, D Woodward, CJ Wright, Q Xia, J Xu, Y Xu, M Yeh, D Yeum, J Young, W Zha, H Zhang, T Zhang, Y Zhou

Abstract:

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment is a direct-detection dark matter experiment, optimized to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) through WIMP-nucleon interactions. The main challenge in dark matter detection is differentiating between WIMP signals and background events. In LZ, the ratio of ionization to scintillation signals (charge-to-light) is the primary method for rejecting electronic recoil (ER) background. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) offers a method for additional ER backgrounds rejection in liquid xenon detectors. In this paper, the discrimination power of PSD with the LZ experiment is discussed. To precisely characterize the scintillation pulse shape, an analysis framework is developed to reconstruct the detection time of individual photons. Using LZ calibration data, the photon-timing tail fraction discriminator is optimized and achieves ER leakage as low as 15%$$15\%$$. For specific background processes such as 124$$^{124}$$Xe double electron capture, the leakage is reduced further to about 5%$$5\%$$. PSD is combined with charge-to-light to form two-factor discrimination (TFD). The optimized TFD performance is compared with the performance of the charge-to-light method, with the corresponding false positive rate reduced by up to a factor of two for large scintillation pulses. Finally, PSD and TFD are applied to data from LZ’s WS2024 run and their performance is summarized.

Search for New Physics via Low-Energy Electron Recoils with a 4.2 Tonne\times Year Exposure from the LZ Experiment

(2026)

Authors:

DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, J Almquist, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, TJ Anderson, N Angelides, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, A Baker, S Balashov, J Bang, JW Bargemann, EE Barillier, K Beattie, T Benson, A Bhatti, TP Biesiadzinski, HJ Birch, E Bishop, GM Blockinger, B Boxer, CAJ Brew, P Brás, S Burdin, MC Carmona-Benitez, M Carter, A Chawla, H Chen, YT Chin, NI Chott, S Contreras, MV Converse, R Coronel, A Cottle, G Cox, D Curran, CE Dahl, I Darlington, S Dave, A David, J Delgaudio, S Dey, L de Viveiros, L Di Felice, C Ding, JEY Dobson, E Druszkiewicz, S Dubey, CL Dunbar, SR Eriksen, A Fan, NM Fearon, N Fieldhouse, S Fiorucci, H Flaecher, ED Fraser, TMA Fruth, RJ Gaitskell, A Geffre, J Genovesi, C Ghag, A Ghosh, R Gibbons, S Gokhale, J Green, MGD van der Grinten, JJ Haiston, CR Hall, T Hall, E Hartigan-O'Connor, SJ Haselschwardt, MA Hernandez, SA Hertel, GJ Homenides, M Horn, DQ Huang, D Hunt, E Jacquet, RS James, K Jenkins, AC Kaboth, AC Kamaha, MK Kannichankandy, D Khaitan, A Khazov, J Kim, YD Kim, J Kingston, D Kodroff, EV Korolkova, H Kraus, S Kravitz, L Kreczko, VA Kudryavtsev, C Lawes, DS Leonard, KT Lesko, C Levy, J Lin, A Lindote, WH Lippincott, J Long, MI Lopes, W Lorenzon, C Lu, S Luitz, PA Majewski, A Manalaysay, RL Mannino, C Maupin, ME McCarthy, G McDowell, DN McKinsey, J McLaughlin, JB Mclaughlin, R McMonigle, B Mitra, E Mizrachi, ME Monzani, E Morrison, BJ Mount, M Murdy, A St J Murphy, HN Nelson, F Neves, A Nguyen, CL O'Brien, I Olcina, KC Oliver-Mallory, J Orpwood, KY Oyulmaz, KJ Palladino, NJ Pannifer, N Parveen, SJ Patton, B Penning, G Pereira, E Perry, T Pershing, A Piepke, SS Poudel, Y Qie, J Reichenbacher, CA Rhyne, GRC Rischbieter, E Ritchey, HS Riyat, R Rosero, T Rushton, D Rynders, S Saltão, D Santone, ABMR Sazzad, RW Schnee, G Sehr, B Shafer, S Shaw, K Shi, T Shutt, C Silva, G Sinev, J Siniscalco, AM Slivar, R Smith, VN Solovov, P Sorensen, J Soria, A Stevens, TJ Sumner, A Swain, M Szydagis, DR Tiedt, M Timalsina, Z Tong, DR Tovey, J Tranter, M Trask, K Trengove, M Tripathi, A Usón, AC Vaitkus, O Valentino, V Velan, A Wang, JJ Wang, Y Wang, L Weeldreyer, TJ Whitis, M Williams, K Wild, L Wolf, FLH Wolfs, S Woodford, D Woodward, CJ Wright, Q Xia, J Xu, Y Xu, M Yeh, D Yeum, W Zha, H Zhang, T Zhang

Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

(2026)

Authors:

DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, BJ Almquist, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, TJ Anderson, N Angelides, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, A Baker, S Balashov, J Bang, JW Bargemann, EE Barillier, J Barthel, D Bauer, K Beattie, A Bhatti, TP Biesiadzinski, HJ Birch, E Bishop, GM Blockinger, CAJ Brew, P Brás, S Burdin, MC Carmona-Benitez, M Carter, A Chawla, H Chen, YT Chin, NI Chott, S Contreras, MV Converse, R Coronel, A Cottle, G Cox, D Curran, CE Dahl, I Darlington, S Dave, A David, J Davis, J Delgaudio, S Dey, L de Viveiros, L Di Felice, C Ding, JEY Dobson, E Druszkiewicz, S Dubey, CL Dunbar, SR Eriksen, S Fayer, NM Fearon, N Fieldhouse, S Fiorucci, H Flaecher, ED Fraser, TMA Fruth, PW Gaemers, RJ Gaitskell, A Geffre, J Genovesi, C Ghag, J Ghamsari, A Ghosh, S Ghosh, R Gibbons, S Gokhale, J Green, MGD van der Grinten, JJ Haiston, CR Hall, T Hall, RN Hampp, SJ Haselschwardt, MA Hernandez, SA Hertel, GJ Homenides, M Horn, DQ Huang, D Hunt, E Jacquet, RS James, K Jenkins, AC Kaboth, AC Kamaha, MK Kannichankandy, D Khaitan, A Khazov, J Kim, YD Kim, D Kodroff, EV Korolkova, H Kraus, S Kravitz, L Kreczko, VA Kudryavtsev, C Lawes, DS Leonard, KT Lesko, C Levy, J Lin, A Lindote, WH Lippincott, J Long, MI Lopes, W Lorenzon, C Lu, D Lucero, S Luitz, W Ma, V Mahajan, PA Majewski, A Manalaysay, RL Mannino, RJ Matheson, C Maupin, ME McCarthy, DN McKinsey, J McLaughlin, JB McLaughlin, R McMonigle, B Mitra, E Mizrachi, ME Monzani, K Morå, E Morrison, BJ Mount, M Murdy, A St J Murphy, HN Nelson, F Neves, A Nguyen, CL O'Brien, FH O'Shea, I Olcina, KC Oliver-Mallory, J Orpwood, KY Oyulmaz, KJ Palladino, NJ Pannifer, N Parveen, SJ Patton, B Penning, G Pereira, E Perry, T Pershing, A Piepke, SS Poudel, Y Qie, J Reichenbacher, CA Rhyne, GRC Rischbieter, E Ritchey, HS Riyat, R Rosero, NJ Rowe, T Rushton, D Rynders, S Saltão, D Santone, I Sargeant, ABMR Sazzad, RW Schnee, G Sehr, B Shafer, S Shaw, W Sherman, K Shi, T Shutt, C Silva, G Sinev, J Siniscalco, AM Slivar, R Smith, VN Solovov, P Sorensen, J Soria, TJ Sumner, A Swain, M Szydagis, DJ Taylor, DR Tiedt, M Timalsina, DR Tovey, J Tranter, M Trask, K Trengove, M Tripathi, A Usón, AC Vaitkus, O Valentino, V Velan, A Wang, JJ Wang, Y Wang, L Weeldreyer, TJ Whitis, K Wild, M Williams, J Winnicki, L Wolf, FLH Wolfs, S Woodford, D Woodward, CJ Wright, Q Xia, J Xu, Y Xu, M Yeh, D Yeum, J Young, W Zha, H Zhang, T Zhang, Y Zhou

The XLZD Design Book: Towards the Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics

(2025)

Authors:

XLZD Collaboration, J Aalbers, K Abe, M Adrover, S Ahmed Maouloud, DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, L Althueser, DWP Amaral, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, B Andrieu, N Angelides, E Angelino, B Antunovic, E Aprile, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, M Babicz, A Baker, M Balzer, J Bang, E Barberio, JW Bargemann, E Barillier, A Basharina-Freshville, L Baudis, D Bauer, M Bazyk, K Beattie, N Beaupere, NF Bell, L Bellagamba, T Benson, A Bhatti, TP Biesiadzinski, R Biondi, Y Biondi, HJ Birch, E Bishop, A Bismark, C Boehm, K Boese, A Bolotnikov, P Brás, R Braun, A Breskin, CAJ Brew, S Brommer, A Brown, G Bruni, R Budnik, S Burdin, C Cai, C Capelli, G Carini, MC Carmona-Benitez, M Carter, A Chauvin, A Chawla, H Chen, JJ Cherwinka, YT Chin, NI Chott, AP Cimental Chavez, K Clark, AP Colijn, DJ Colling, J Conrad, MV Converse, LJ Cooper, R Coronel, D Costanzo, A Cottle, G Cox, JJ Cuenca-García, D Curran, D Cussans, V D'Andrea, LC Daniel Garcia, I Darlington, S Dave, A David, GJ Davies, MP Decowski, A Deisting, J Delgaudio, S Dey, C Di Donato, L Di Felice, P Di Gangi, S Diglio, C Ding, JEY Dobson, M Doerenkamp, G Drexlin, E Druszkiewicz, CL Dunbar, K Eitel, A Elykov, R Engel, SR Eriksen, S Fayer, NM Fearon, AD Ferella, C Ferrari, N Fieldhouse, H Fischer, H Flaecher, T Flehmke, M Flierman, ED Fraser, TMA Fruth, K Fujikawa, W Fulgione, C Fuselli, P Gaemers, R Gaior, RJ Gaitskell, N Gallice, M Galloway, F Gao, N Garroum, A Geffre, J Genovesi, C Ghag, S Ghosh, R Giacomobono, R Gibbons, F Girard, R Glade-Beucke, F Glück, S Gokhale, L Grandi, J Green, J Grigat, MGD van der Grinten, R Größle, H Guan, M Guida, P Gyorgy, JJ Haiston, CR Hall, T Hall, R Hammann, V Hannen, S Hansmann-Menzemer, N Hargittai, E Hartigan-O'Connor, SJ Haselschwardt, M Hernandez, SA Hertel, A Higuera, C Hils, K Hiraoka, L Hoetzsch, M Hoferichter, GJ Homenides, NF Hood, M Horn, DQ Huang, S Hughes, D Hunt, M Iacovacci, Y Itow, E Jacquet, J Jakob, RS James, F Joerg, S Jones, AC Kaboth, F Kahlert, AC Kamaha, Y Kaminaga, M Kara, P Kavrigin, S Kazama, M Keller, P Kemp-Russell, D Khaitan, P Kharbanda, B Kilminster, J Kim, R Kirk, M Kleifges, M Klute, M Kobayashi, D Kodroff, D Koke, A Kopec, EV Korolkova, H Kraus, S Kravitz, L Kreczko, B von Krosigk, VA Kudryavtsev, F Kuger, N Kurita, H Landsman, RF Lang, C Lawes, J Lee, B Lehnert, DS Leonard, KT Lesko, L Levinson, A Li, I Li, S Li, S Liang, Z Liang, J Lin, Y-T Lin, S Lindemann, S Linden, M Lindner, A Lindote, WH Lippincott, K Liu, J Loizeau, F Lombardi, JAM Lopes, MI Lopes, W Lorenzon, M Loutit, C Lu, GM Lucchetti, T Luce, S Luitz, Y Ma, C Macolino, J Mahlstedt, B Maier, PA Majewski, A Manalaysay, A Mancuso, L Manenti, RL Mannino, F Marignetti, T Marley, T Marrodán Undagoitia, K Martens, J Masbou, E Masson, S Mastroianni, C Maupin, V Mazza, C McCabe, ME McCarthy, DN McKinsey, JB McLaughlin, A Melchiorre, J Menéndez, M Messina, EH Miller, B Milosovic, S Milutinovic, K Miuchi, R Miyata, E Mizrachi, A Molinario, CMB Monteiro, ME Monzani, K Morå, S Moriyama, E Morrison, E Morteau, Y Mosbacher, BJ Mount, J Müller, M Murdy, A St J Murphy, M Murra, A Naylor, HN Nelson, F Neves, JL Newstead, A Nguyen, K Ni, J O'Dell, C O'Hare, U Oberlack, M Obradovic, I Olcina, KC Oliver-Mallory, GD Orebi Gann, J Orpwood, S Ouahada, K Oyulmaz, B Paetsch, KJ Palladino, J Palmer, Y Pan, M Pandurovic, NJ Pannifer, S Paramesvaran, SJ Patton, Q Pellegrini, B Penning, G Pereira, R Peres, E Perry, T Pershing, F Piastra, J Pienaar, A Piepke, M Pierre, G Plante, TR Pollmann, F Pompa, L Principe, J Qi, K Qiao, Y Qie, J Qin, S Radeka, V Radeka, M Rajado, D Ramírez García, A Ravindran, A Razeto, J Reichenbacher, CA Rhyne, A Richards, GRC Rischbieter, HS Riyat, R Rosero, A Roy, T Rushton, D Rynders, R Saakyan, L Sanchez, P Sanchez-Lucas, D Santone, JMF dos Santos, G Sartorelli, ABMR Sazzad, A Scaffidi, RW Schnee, J Schreiner, P Schulte, H Schulze Eißing, M Schumann, A Schwenck, A Schwenk, L Scotto Lavina, M Selvi, F Semeria, P Shagin, S Sharma, S Shaw, W Shen, L Sherman, S Shi, SY Shi, T Shimada, T Shutt, JJ Silk, C Silva, H Simgen, G Sinev, R Singh, J Siniscalco, M Solmaz, VN Solovov, Z Song, P Sorensen, J Soria, O Stanley, M Steidl, T Stenhouse, A Stevens, K Stifter, TJ Sumner, A Takeda, P-L Tan, DJ Taylor, WC Taylor, D Thers, T Thümmler, DR Tiedt, F Tönnies, Z Tong, F Toschi, DR Tovey, J Tranter, M Trask, G Trinchero, M Tripathi, DR Tronstad, R Trotta, CD Tunnell, P Urquijo, A Usón, M Utoyama, AC Vaitkus, O Valentino, K Valerius, S Vecchi, V Velan, S Vetter, L de Viveiros, G Volta, D Vorkapic, A Wang, JJ Wang, Y Wang, D Waters, KM Weerman, C Weinheimer, M Weiss, D Wenz, TJ Whitis, K Wild, M Williams, M Wilson, ST Wilson, C Wittweg, J Wolf, FLH Wolfs, S Woodford, D Woodward, M Worcester, CJ Wright, VHS Wu, S Wüstling, M Wurm, Q Xia, Y Xing, D Xu, J Xu, Y Xu, Z Xu, M Yamashita, L Yang, J Ye, M Yeh, B Yu, G Zavattini, W Zha, M Zhong, K Zuber

The XLZD Design Book: towards the next-generation liquid xenon observatory for dark matter and neutrino physics

The European Physical Journal C SpringerOpen 85:10 (2025) 1192

Authors:

J Aalbers, K Abe, M Adrover, S Ahmed Maouloud, DS Akerib, AK Al Musalhi, F Alder, L Althueser, DWP Amaral, CS Amarasinghe, A Ames, B Andrieu, N Angelides, E Angelino, B Antunovic, E Aprile, HM Araújo, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, M Babicz, A Baker, M Balzer, J Bang, E Barberio

Abstract:

This report describes the experimental strategy and technologies for XLZD, the next-generation xenon observatory sensitive to dark matter and neutrino physics. In the baseline design, the detector will have an active liquid xenon target of 60 tonnes, which could be increased to 80 tonnes if the market conditions for xenon are favorable. It is based on the mature liquid xenon time projection chamber technology used in current-generation experiments, LZ and XENONnT. The report discusses the baseline design and opportunities for further optimization of the individual detector components. The experiment envisaged here has the capability to explore parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter down to the neutrino fog, with a 3σ evidence potential for WIMP-nucleon cross sections as low as 3×10-49cm2 (at 40 GeV/c2 WIMP mass). The observatory will also have leading sensitivity to a wide range of alternative dark matter models. It is projected to have a 3σ observation potential of neutrinoless double beta decay of 136Xe at a half-life of up to 5.7×1027 years. Additionally, it is sensitive to astrophysical neutrinos from the sun and galactic supernovae.

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