Search for the stochastic gravitational-wave background induced by primordial curvature perturbations in LIGO's second observing run

Abstract

Primordial density perturbations in the radiation-dominated era of the early Universe are expected to generate stochastic gravitational waves (GWs) due to nonlinear mode coupling. In this \emph{Letter}, we report on a search for such a stochastic GW background in the data of the two LIGO detectors during their second observing run (O2). We focus on the primordial perturbations in the range of comoving wavenumbers $10^{16}-10^{18}{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$ for which the stochastic background falls within the detectors' sensitivity band. We do not find any conclusive evidence of this stochastic signal in the data, and thus place the very first GW-based constraints on the amplitude of the power spectrum at these scales. We assume a lognormal shape for the power spectrum and Gaussian statistics for the primordial perturbations, and vary the width of the power spectrum to cover both narrow and broad spectra. Derived upper limits ($95\%$) on the amplitude of the power spectrum are $0.01-0.1$. As a byproduct, we are able to infer upper limits on the fraction of the Universe's mass in ultralight primordial black holes ($M_{\mathrm{PBH}}\simeq 10^{-20}-10^{-19}{M}_{\odot }$) at their formation time to be $\lesssim 10^{-25}$.

5 pages, 3 figures

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• Primordial Non-Gaussianity $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ and Anisotropies in Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves
• Search for a scalar induced stochastic gravitational wave background in the third LIGO-Virgo observing run
• Formation and Abundance of Late Forming Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter
• The stochastic gravitational wave background from close hyperbolic encounters of primordial black holes in dense clusters
• Planck Constraints and Gravitational Wave Forecasts for Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter Seeded by Multifield Inflation
• Probing primordial black holes with anisotropies in stochastic gravitational-wave background
• NANOGrav Hints on Planet-Mass Primordial Black Holes
• Tracking the origin of black holes with the stochastic gravitational wave background popcorn signal
• On the primordial black hole formation in hybrid inflation
• Constraints on Non-Gaussian primordial curvature perturbation from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA third observing run
• Correlating Gravitational Wave and Gamma-ray Signals from Primordial Black Holes