Probing Electron-Nucleus Interactions in the Light Dark Matter eXperiment

The Light Dark Matter eXperiment (LDMX) is a fixed-target accelerator experiment sensitive to dark matter candidates at the sub-GeV mass scale. The detector will feature a target, where the dark matter interaction is expected to happen, charged-particle tracking layers on either side of the target, and both electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. At the experimental level, controlled kinematics, large statistics, and ease of swapping different targets in LDMX has motivated its use as a complementary probe for gathering electron-nucleus (eN) scattering data of interest to the neutrino community. This data could be used to constrain neutrino-nucleus scattering rates and improve existing models for neutrino event generators.

In this talk, we will focus on preliminary results highlighting the ability of LDMX to take this eN data, particularly focusing on the tracking layers in the Recoil Tracker – located just after the target. Using the LDMX tracking framework, we evaluate the reconstruction of post-interaction scattering angles and electron-nucleus momentum transfer. Additionally, the LDMX collaboration has proposed building a portion of the full LDMX detector for a test run in the coming year, featuring smaller tracking and calorimeter components. We will also highlight the development of a tracking algorithm for this reduced geometry and its application towards eN measurements in LDMX.