Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: The growing catalogue of gravitational wave events enables a statistical analysis of compact binary mergers, typically quantified by the binary merger rate density. This quantity can be influenced by ambient factors, following which, in this work we have investigated the impact of dark matter environment on the merger statistics. We construct a baseline astrophysical model of eccentric and quasi-circular compact binary mergers and extend it by incorporating a model of ultra light dark matter, which affects the orbital evolution of binaries through accretion and dynamical friction. Our analysis of the merged population of binary progenitors demonstrates that, compared to the baseline model, ULDM can potentially alter the merger statistics around an optimal combination of ambient density $\lesssim10^4 \textrm{GeV}/\textrm{cm}^{3}$ and eccentricity $\sim 0.5$. A comparison with the gravitational wave data from the GWTC-3 catalogue provides crucial insight into potential observational signatures of the ULDM in merger events, leading to possible constraints on the existence and density of dark matter distribution in galaxies.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Chakravarti, Kabir, Acharya, Soham, Chakraborty, Sumanta, Sarkar, Sudipta
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6891806911
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: