Getting More Out of Black Hole Superradiance: a Statistically Rigorous Approach to Ultralight Boson Constraints from Black Hole Spin Measurements
arXiv:2406.10337 · doi:10.1093/mnras/staf1564
Abstract
Black hole (BH) superradiance can provide strong constraints on the properties of ultralight bosons (ULBs). While most of the previous work has focused on the theoretical predictions, here we investigate the most suitable statistical framework to constrain ULB masses and self-interactions using BH spin measurements. We argue that a Bayesian approach based on a simple timescales analysis provides a clear statistical interpretation, deals with limitations regarding the reproducibility of existing BH analyses, incorporates the full information from BH data, and allows us to include additional nuisance parameters or to perform hierarchical modelling with BH populations in the future. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach using mass and spin posterior samples for the X-ray binary BH M33 X-7 and, for the first time in this context, the supermassive BH IRAS 09149-6206. We explain the differences to existing ULB constraints in the literature and illustrate the effects of various assumptions about the superradiance process (equilibrium regime vs cloud collapse, higher occupation levels). As a result, our procedure yields the most statistically rigorous ULB constraints available in the literature, with important implications for the QCD axion and axion-like particles. We encourage all groups analysing BH data to publish likelihood functions or posterior samples as supplementary material to facilitate this type of analysis, and for theory developments to compress their findings to effective timescale modifications.
Version v2 corresponds to the accepted manuscript and includes further details and minor corrections. 14+2 pages, 6 figures, software code available at https://github.com/sebhoof/bhsr
References in corpus (48)
- Array Programming with NumPy
- Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter
- Cosmic Structure as the Quantum Interference of a Coherent Dark Wave
- An Ultraluminous X-ray Source Powered by An Accreting Neutron Star
- Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
- Instability of the massive Klein-Gordon field on the Kerr spacetime
- The role of the reflection fraction in constraining black hole spin
- Gravitational wave searches for ultralight bosons with LIGO and LISA
- A 15.65 solar mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 33
- Ultra Light Boson Dark Matter and Event Horizon Telescope Observations of M87*
- The mass relations between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies at 1<z<2 with HST-WFC3
- Three-Dimensional Simulations of Magnetized Thin Accretion Disks around Black Holes: Stress in the Plunging Region
- An M Theory Solution to the Strong CP Problem and Constraints on the Axiverse
- Bosenova collapse of axion cloud around a rotating black hole
- Ultraluminous X-ray sources
- Superradiance in String Theory
- qnm: A Python package for calculating Kerr quasinormal modes, separation constants, and spherical-spheroidal mixing coefficients
- All-sky search for gravitational wave emission from scalar boson clouds around spinning black holes in LIGO O3 data
- Constraints on ultralight scalar bosons within black hole spin measurements from LIGO-Virgo's GWTC-2
- Sharp Signals of Boson Clouds in Black Hole Binary Inspirals
- Viscous Torque and Dissipation in the Inner Region of a Thin Accretion Disk: Implications for Measuring Black Hole Spin
- Search for continuous gravitational wave emission from the Milky Way center in O3 LIGO--Virgo data
- On the Observational Difference Between the Accretion Disk-Corona Connections among Super- and Sub-Eddington Accreting Active Galactic Nuclei
- M 33 X-7: ChASeM33 reveals the first eclipsing black hole X-ray binary
- SuperRad: Modeling the black hole superradiance gravitational waveform
- Testing AGN outflow and accretion models with CIV and HeII emission line demographics in z=2 quasars
- Mass, Spin, and Ultralight Boson Constraints from the Intermediate Mass Black Hole in the Tidal Disruption Event 3XMM J215022.4-055108
- Using the motion of S2 to constrain scalar clouds around SgrA*
- Self-interacting scalar dark matter around binary black holes
- Stellar and black hole assembly in z<0.3 infrared-luminous mergers: intermittent starbursts vs. super-Eddington accretion
- Impact of multiple modes on the evolution of self-interacting axion condensate around rotating black holes
- Ultralight Bosonic Field Mass Bounds from Astrophysical Black Hole Spin
- Improved Analytic Solution of Black Hole Superradiance
- A Full Characterisation of the Supermassive Black Hole in IRAS 09149-6206
- Exploring the radial disc ionization profile of the black hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105
- High-density disc reflection spectroscopy of low-mass active galactic nuclei
- Searching for Ultra-light Bosons and Constraining Black Hole Spin Distributions with Stellar Tidal Disruption Events
- Axion Dark Matter
- Slowing down of cosmic growth of supermassive black holes: Theoretical prediction of the Eddington ratio distribution
- Dark Matter Physics from the CMB-S4 Experiment
- Superradiance and the Spins of Black Holes from LIGO and X-ray binaries
- Imprints of ultralight axions on the gravitational wave and pulsar timing measurement
- Constrains of the axion-like particle from black hole spin superradiance
- Robust Supermassive Black Hole Spin Mass-Energy Characteristics: A New Method and Results
- Astrophysical Searches and Constraints on Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter
- Supermassive black hole spin evolution in cosmological simulations with OpenGadget3
- Bounds on the mass of superradiantly unstable scalar fields around Kerr black holes
- Stepping Up Superradiance Constraints on Axions