Pulsar Timing Probes of Primordial Black Holes and Subhalos

Abstract

Pulsars act as accurate clocks, sensitive to gravitational redshift and acceleration induced by transiting clumps of matter. We study the sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) to single transiting compact objects, focusing on primordial black holes and compact subhalos in the mass range from $10^{-12}{M}_{\odot }$ to well above $100M_{\odot }$. We find that the Square Kilometer Array can constrain such objects to be a subdominant component of the dark matter over this entire mass range, with sensitivity to a dark matter sub-component reaching the sub-percent level over significant parts of this range. We also find that PTAs offer an opportunity to probe substantially less dense objects than lensing because of the large effective radius over which such objects can be observed, and we quantify the subhalo concentration parameters which can be constrained.

arXiv comment18 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (56)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• Did LIGO detect dark matter?
• New cosmological constraints on primordial black holes
• Limits on the Macho Content of the Galactic Halo from the EROS-2 Survey of the Magellanic Clouds
• Primordial Black Hole Scenario for the Gravitational-Wave Event GW150914
• Gravitational-wave sensitivity curves
• The NANOGrav 11-year Data Set: High-precision timing of 45 Millisecond Pulsars
• The clustering of massive Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter: measuring their mass distribution with Advanced LIGO
• Microlensing constraints on primordial black holes with the Subaru/HSC Andromeda observation
• High-precision timing of 42 millisecond pulsars with the European Pulsar Timing Array
• Vector Dark Matter from Inflationary Fluctuations
• Massive Primordial Black Holes from Hybrid Inflation as Dark Matter and the seeds of Galaxies
• The International Pulsar Timing Array: First Data Release
• Axion Miniclusters and Bose Stars
• MACHO Project Limits on Black Hole Dark Matter in the 1-30 Solar Mass Range
• Constraints on MACHO Dark Matter from Compact Stellar Systems in Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies
• Black Hole Relics and Inflation: Limits on Blue Perturbation Spectra
• Non-Linear Axion Dynamics and Formation of Cosmological Pseudo-Solitons
• Femtolensing by Dark Matter Revisited
• Limits on stellar-mass compact objects as dark matter from gravitational lensing of type Ia supernovae
• Expected properties of the first gravitational wave signal detected with pulsar timing arrays
• Dark Matter Triggers of Supernovae
• Inflationary Primordial Black Holes as All Dark Matter
• The flattening of the concentration-mass relation towards low halo masses and its implications for the annihilation signal boost
• Primordial Black Hole Formation in a Double Inflation Model in Supergravity
• The OGLE View of Microlensing towards the Magellanic Clouds. IV. OGLE-III SMC Data and Final Conclusions on MACHOs
• Experimental Limits on Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter from the First Two Years of Kepler Data
• Large-amplitude isothermal fluctuations and high-density dark-matter clumps
• Dynamics of dwarf galaxies disfavor stellar-mass black hole dark matter
• Reheating Effects in the Matter Power Spectrum and Implications for Substructure
• Limits on the cosmological abundance of supermassive compact objects from a search for multiple imaging in compact radio sources
• Structure Formation and Microlensing with Axion Miniclusters
• Astrophysical Effects of Scalar Dark Matter Miniclusters
• Femtolensing and Picolensing by Axion Miniclusters
• Non-thermal Histories and Implications for Structure Formation
• The Local Dark Matter Density from SDSS-SEGUE G-dwarfs
• Inflationary theory and pulsar timing investigations of primordial black holes and gravitational waves
• A Micro-glitch in the Millisecond Pulsar B1821-24 in M28
• Density profiles of ultracompact minihalos: Implications for constraining the primordial power spectrum
• A glitch in the millisecond pulsar J0613-0200
• Halometry from Astrometry
• Axion minicluster power spectrum and mass function
• Pulsar timing can constrain primordial black holes in the LIGO mass window
• Probing Dark Matter Substructure with Pulsar Timing
• Investigating dark matter substructure with pulsar timing: I. Constraints on ultracompact minihalos
• Prospects for Detecting Dark Matter Halo Substructure with Pulsar Timing
• Estimating the sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays
• Miniclusters in the Axiverse
• Concentrated Dark Matter: Enhanced Small-scale Structure from Co-Decaying Dark Matter
• Structure Formation during an early period of matter domination
• Searching for primordial black hole dark matter with pulsar timing arrays
• Probing For Machos of Mass $10^{-15}{M}_{\odot }$-$10^{-7}{M}_{\odot }$ with Gamma-Ray Burst Parallax Spacecraft
• Microlensing of Kepler Stars as a Method of Detecting Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter
• Enhanced exploration for primordial black holes using pulsar timing arrays
• High precision pulsar timing and spin frequency second derivatives
• Detectability of Small-Scale Dark Matter Clumps with Pulsar Timing Arrays

Cited by in corpus (83)

• Constraints on Primordial Black Holes
• Primordial Black Holes as a dark matter candidate
• The Astrophysics of Nanohertz Gravitational Waves
• The First Three Seconds: a Review of Possible Expansion Histories of the Early Universe
• Early-Universe Simulations of the Cosmological Axion
• The Large-Misalignment Mechanism for the Formation of Compact Axion Structures: Signatures from the QCD Axion to Fuzzy Dark Matter
• Pulsar Timing Array Constraints on Primordial Black Holes with NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set
• Near future MeV telescopes can discover asteroid-mass primordial black hole dark matter
• Can tides disrupt cold dark matter subhaloes?
• Gravitational wave probes of dark matter: challenges and opportunities
• Probing Dark Low-mass Halos and Primordial Black Holes with Frequency-dependent Gravitational Lensing Dispersions of Gravitational Waves
• Gravitational microlensing by dark matter in extended structures
• Simulations of Axion Minihalos
• Constraints on millicharged dark matter and axion-like particles from timing of radio waves
• Gravitational waves from dark matter isocurvature
• Halo Substructure Boosts to the Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation
• Observability of Dark Matter Substructure with Pulsar Timing Correlations
• Probing Small-Scale Power Spectra with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Imprints of the Early Universe on Axion Dark Matter Substructure
• Scattering searches for dark matter in subhalos: neutron stars, cosmic rays, and old rocks
• Annihilation Signatures of Hidden Sector Dark Matter Within Early-Forming Microhalos
• Breaking a dark degeneracy: The gamma-ray signature of early matter domination
• Small-scale shear: Peeling off diffuse subhalos with gravitational waves
• Looking for MACHOs in the Spectra of Fast Radio Bursts
• Dark Matter Microhalos From Simplified Models
• The NANOGrav Program for Gravitational Waves and Fundamental Physics
• Tests of Dark MACHOs: Lensing, Accretion, and Glow
• The Interplay between the Dark Matter Axion and Primordial Black Holes
• First Results on Dark Matter Substructure from Astrometric Weak Lensing
• Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter in Left-Right Theories
• Primordial Black Holes from CDM Isocurvature Perturbations
• GRB lensing parallax: Closing primordial black hole dark matter mass window
• Close encounters of the primordial kind: a new observable for primordial black holes as dark matter
• Dark Grand Unification in the Axiverse: Decaying Axion Dark Matter and Spontaneous Baryogenesis
• The Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Astronomer
• Cannibal domination and the matter power spectrum
• Bayesian Forecasts for Dark Matter Substructure Searches with Mock Pulsar Timing Data
• Milky Way Accelerometry via Millisecond Pulsar Timing
• ALP Dark Matter Mini-Clusters from Kinetic Fragmentation
• Pulsar Polarization Arrays
• Cosmological Tension of Ultralight Axion Dark Matter and its Solutions
• Cannibalism's lingering imprint on the matter power spectrum
• Detecting Dark Matter Substructures on Small Scales with Fast Radio Bursts
• Ultracompact minihalos associated with stellar-mass primordial black holes
• ALP dark matter with non-periodic potentials: parametric resonance, halo formation and gravitational signatures
• Dark Matter Microhalos in the Solar Neighborhood: Pulsar Timing Signatures of Early Matter Domination
• Astrophysical Observations of a Dark Matter-Baryon Fifth Force
• Constraining axion and compact dark matter with interstellar medium heating
• Astrometric Gravitational-Wave Detection via Stellar Interferometry
• The Milky Way, Coming into Focus: Precision Astrometry Probes its Evolution, and its Dark Matter
• Searching for Dark Clumps with Gravitational-Wave Detectors
• A Pulsar-Based Map of Galactic Acceleration
• Deep learning the astrometric signature of dark matter substructure
• Probing Dark Sectors with Neutron Stars
• Dark Exoplanets
• Macroscopic Dark Matter Detection with Gravitational Wave Experiments
• Three-body capture, ejection, and the demographics of bound objects in binary systems
• Orbital scattering by random interactions with extended substructures
• Opening up a window on the postinflationary QCD axion
• Astrometric Weak Lensing with Gaia DR3 and Future Catalogs: Searches for Dark Matter Substructure
• Detecting Dark Compact Objects in Gaia DR4: A Data Analysis Pipeline for Transient Astrometric Lensing Searches
• How an era of kination impacts substructure and the dark matter annihilation rate
• The Effect of Multiple Cooling Channels on the Formation of Dark Compact Objects
• Capture of primordial black holes in extrasolar systems
• Detecting Gravitational Scattering of Interstellar Objects Using Pulsar Timing
• Cosmic microwave background constraints on extended dark matter objects
• Toward More Realistic Mass Functions For Ultradense Dark Matter Halos
• Gravitational Waves, Extreme Astrophysics, and Fundamental Physics with Precision Pulsar Timing
• The Disruption of Dark Matter Minihalos by Successive Stellar Encounters
• Dancing with invisible partners: Three-body exchanges with primordial black holes
• Detecting gravitational signatures of dark matter with atom gradiometers
• Pulsar timing and polarimetry: results and perspectives
• Dark matter cooling during early matter-domination boosts sub-earth halos
• Detection for Intermediate-mass Binary Black Holes in Population III Star Clusters with TianQin
• Updated constraints on the primordial power spectrum at sub-Mpc scales
• Probing Dark Matter Clumps, Strings and Domain Walls with Gravitational Wave Detectors
• Gravitational Ionization by Schwarzschild Primordial Black Holes
• Self-gravitating quantum stars with a globally relevant Bohm potential
• Constraining Fundamental Constant Variations from Ultralight Dark Matter with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Dimming Starlight with Dark Compact Objects
• Physics beyond the Standard Model with the DSA-2000
• General-relativistic structure of two-component quantum dark fermion stars
• Fast and Fewrious: Stochastic binary perturbations from fast compact objects