XENONnT analysis: Signal reconstruction, calibration, and event selection

Abstract

The XENONnT experiment, located at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, features a 5.9 tonne liquid xenon time projection chamber surrounded by an instrumented neutron veto, all of which is housed within a muon veto water tank. Because of extensive shielding and advanced purification to mitigate natural radioactivity, an exceptionally low background level of (15.8±1.3) events/(tonne·year·keV) in the (1,30) keV region is reached in the inner part of the time projection chamber. XENONnT is, thus, sensitive to a wide range of rare phenomena related to dark matter and neutrino interactions, both within and beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, with a focus on the direct detection of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles. From May 2021 to December 2021, XENONnT accumulated data in rare-event search mode with a total exposure of one tonne·year. This paper provides a detailed description of the signal reconstruction methods, event selection procedure, and detector response calibration, as well as an overview of the detector performance in this time frame. This work establishes the foundational framework for the "blind analysis"methodology we are using when reporting XENONnT physics results.