Self-Interacting Dark-Matter Spikes and the Final-Parsec Problem: Bayesian constraints from the NANOGrav 15-Year Gravitational-Wave Background

Abstract

A self-interacting dark-matter (SIDM) density spike around merging supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may be able to supply the dynamical friction needed to shrink binaries from $\sim 1\mathrm{pc}$ to $\sim 10^{-2}\mathrm{pc}$, thereby resolving the long-standing "final-parsec problem". Embedding the binary-halo system in a cosmological population model, we evolve the inspiral under the combined influence of gravitational-wave (GW) emission and SIDM drag, compute the resulting nanohertz GW background, and confront it with the NANOGrav 15-year pulsar-timing data. A six-parameter Bayesian analysis, performed with a Gaussian-process-accelerated Markov chain Monte Carlo, yields posterior constraints on the cross-section per unit mass and maximum circular velocity values that were consistent with independent galaxy-rotation and cluster-lensing limits. Within this parameter space, the SIDM spike remains intact, supplies sufficient friction to overcome the stellar depletion barrier, and produces a characteristic-strain spectrum that matches the NANOGrav signal as well as phenomenological astrophysical models.

15 pages, 4 figures, v4: reflects published version

References in corpus (39)

• Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Parameter Results
• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-Wave Background
• Search for an isotropic gravitational-wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• Searching for the nano-Hertz stochastic gravitational wave background with the Chinese Pulsar Timing Array Data Release I
• Dark Matter Self-interactions and Small Scale Structure
• At the heart of the matter: the origin of bulgeless dwarf galaxies and Dark Matter cores
• The second data release from the European Pulsar Timing Array III. Search for gravitational wave signals
• MultiDark simulations: the story of dark matter halo concentrations and density profiles
• The Core-Cusp Problem
• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Constraints on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the Gravitational Wave Background
• A Dark-Matter Spike at the Galactic Center?
• Core Formation in Dwarf Halos with Self Interacting Dark Matter: No Fine-Tuning Necessary
• Long Term Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries
• Massive Black Hole Binary Mergers in Dynamical Galactic Environments
• The stellar-to-halo mass relation over the past 12 Gyr
• Supermassive Black Hole Binary Evolution in Axisymmetric Galaxies: the final parsec problem is not a problem
• Gas driven massive black hole binaries: signatures in the nHz gravitational wave background
• Velocity-dependent Self-interacting Dark Matter from Groups and Clusters of Galaxies
• Observable tests of self-interacting dark matter in galaxy clusters: BCG wobbles in a constant density core
• Interaction of massive black hole binaries with their stellar environment: III. Scattering of bound stars
• The final-parsec problem in non-spherical galaxies revisited
• Dynamical friction of black holes in ultralight dark matter
• Gravitational Waves from SMBH Binaries in Light of the NANOGrav 15-Year Data
• Implications for the Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the NANOGrav 15-year Data Set
• Self-interacting dark matter cusps around massive black holes
• The effect of wave dark matter on equal mass black hole mergers
• A semi-analytic study of self-interacting dark-matter haloes with baryons
• Infalling clouds on to supermassive black hole binaries - II. Binary evolution and the final parsec problem
• Bounds on Ultralight Dark Matter from NANOGrav
• Astrophysical Tests of Dark Matter Self-Interactions
• Accretion of clumpy cold gas onto massive black hole binaries: a possible fast route to binary coalescence
• Gravothermal collapse and the diversity of galactic rotation curves
• Supersonic friction of a black hole traversing a self-interacting scalar dark matter cloud
• Probing the quantum nature of black holes with ultra-light boson environments
• Extragalactic neutrino emission induced by Supermassive and Stellar Mass Black Hole mergers
• Distinctive GWBs from eccentric inspiraling SMBH binaries with a DM spike
• Constraints on Self-Interacting dark matter from relaxed galaxy groups
• Dark Matter Spike surrounding Supermassive Black Holes Binary and the Nanohertz Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background
• Probing Self-Interacting Dark Matter via Gravitational-Wave Background from Eccentric Supermassive Black Hole Mergers

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Bayesian leave-one-out cross-validation for astrophysical model comparison using gravitational-wave background data