Stochastic Tsunamis: Diffuse Scalar Background from Black Hole Formation
arXiv:2607.12013
The authors suggest that the abrupt disappearance of a static scalar field when massive stars collapse into black holes generates bursts of scalar radiation, which accumulate over cosmic time into a stochastic diffuse scalar background in the 1–10^3 Hz range, and they calculate its spectrum and potential detectability.
Abstract
Massive astrophysical objects can source huge static configurations of a scalar field. When such an object ends up forming a black hole, for instance, via a core-collapse supernova, the scalar field loses its source abruptly; then the static configuration becomes dynamical and propagates away in a burst, a "scalar tsunami". These bursts accumulate over cosmological history, forming a relic stochastic diffuse scalar background peaked in the range. We propose this as a novel mechanism for the generation of such a background, compute its spectrum, and compare it with the sensitivity of future experiments. We show how this extends the experimental sensitivity to scalar masses , ten orders of magnitude larger than those accessible via individual transient events previously considered.
4 pages, 1 figure