Gravitational-wave event rates as a new probe for dark matter microphysics

Abstract

We show that gravitational waves have the potential to unravel the microphysical properties of dark matter due to the dependence of the binary black hole merger rate on cosmic structure formation, which is itself highly dependent on the dark matter scenario. In particular, we demonstrate that suppression of small-scale structure -- such as that caused by interacting, warm, or fuzzy dark matter -- leads to a significant reduction in the rate of binary black hole mergers at redshifts $z\gtrsim 5$. This shows that future gravitational-wave observations will provide a new probe of physics beyond the $\Lambda$CDM model.

15 pages, 12 figures, matches version published in PRD

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Hints of Neutrino Dark Matter scattering in the CMB? Constraints from the Marginalized and Profile Distributions
• Dark matter coupled to radiation: Limits from the Milky Way satellites
• Gravitational Wave emission in Binary Neutron Star early post-merger within a dark environment
• A solution to the S8 tension through neutrino-dark matter interactions
• DESI forecast for Dark Matter-Neutrino interactions using EFTofLSS
• Gravitational Wave Resonance in Ultra-Light Dark Matter Halos