A detector built primarily to search for dark matter has recorded strong evidence of an entirely different phenomenon: neutrinos produced inside the Sun interacting with xenon nuclei.
Researchers from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration report evidence for coherent elastic neutrinoโnucleus scattering (CEฮฝNS) involving boron-8 solar neutrinos. The result reached a statistical significance of 4.5ฯ, making it the strongest evidence of this particular interaction reported by LZ so far.
LZ is an extremely sensitive underground experiment designed to detect the tiny nuclear recoils that could be produced if hypothetical dark-matter particles collide with xenon atoms. In this study, the researchers analysed a 5.7 tonne-year exposure, using data collected between March 2023 and April 2025, while searching for light dark-matter particles with masses of roughly 3-9 GeV/cยฒ.
The researchers found no significant excess of events that could be attributed to dark matter. Instead, they observed a signal consistent with interactions caused by high-energy boron-8 neutrinos originating in the Sun. The study also enabled the team to place stringent limits on some possible interactions between dark matter and ordinary matter.
The finding matters because neutrinos are increasingly becoming an important background in highly sensitive dark-matter experiments. As these detectors improve, neutrino-induced nuclear recoils can begin to resemble the signals scientists expect from some types of dark matter โ a challenge sometimes described as the โneutrino fog.โ
There is, however, an important limitation. A 4.5ฯ result is strong evidence, but it remains below the conventional 5ฯ threshold normally required in particle physics to claim a discovery. The study therefore does not constitute a definitive discovery of the interaction by LZ, nor did it detect dark matter.
The peer-reviewed study was published in Physical Review Letters on 28 August 2026 and was selected as an Editorsโ Suggestion.
Research paper:
Searches for Light Dark Matter and Evidence of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering of Solar Neutrinos with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jvqf-njpj
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