Exploring Dark Matter through Gravitational-Wave Observations
Open Access
- Author:
- Singh, Divya
- Graduate Program:
- Physics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 06, 2024
- Committee Members:
- Cindy Gulis, Outside Unit & Field Member
Kohta Murase, Major Field Member
Irina Mocioiu, Major Field Member
Irina Mocioiu, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Bangalore Sathyaprakash, Co-Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Chad Hanna, Co-Chair & Dissertation Advisor - Keywords:
- gravitational wave searches
dark matter
gstlal - Abstract:
- One of the most pressing questions in cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics is the nature of dark matter that continues to elude us after decades of pointed efforts to detect various dark matter candidates. However, we know of its existence because dark matter gravitates, making gravitational waves an almost singular avenue for its detection. The advent of gravitational-wave astrophysics has enriched our understanding of formation scenarios of black hole and neutron star binary systems. The LIGO-Virgo-Kagra collaboration have published 90(202) gravitational-wave candidates within three(ongoing fourth) observing runs, spanning tens of solar masses in the black-hole mass spectrum which provide us an insight into the properties of these systems and the environments in which they form. Compact object binaries in dark matter rich environments are detectable by the current generation of Earth-based gravitational-wave detectors, which gives us a window into detecting exotic formation channels separate from stellar evolution. In this work, we explore some scenarios where gravitational-wave observations can constrain properties of dark matter described by two models. Gravitational-waves from black hole binaries that form from the cooling and gravitational collapse of dissipative dark matter halos constrain the mass spectrum of such objects. On the other hand, asymmetric dark matter accumulation in the cores of neutron stars can cause their implosion to form solar-mass black holes which if present in binary systems, will produce detectable gravitational-wave signals. In both scenarios, gravitational-wave observations or the lack thereof can constrain the specific models. Additionally, the detection of a sub-solar mass black hole will provide decisive evidence for new physics, possibly formation channels involving dark matter, since the Chandrasekhar limit constrains compact objects forming through stellar evolution to be no smaller than 1.4 solar masses. To that effect, searches for gravitational-wave signals from sub-solar mass compact objects have been conducted in data from LIGO-Virgo detectors, and continue to operate. For the first time, we also run a low-latency sub-solar mass search with the aim to facilitate multi-messenger follow-up in case of a detection.