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Researchers have used gravitational wave data from black hole collisions to constrain the properties of hypothetical ultralight scalar particles with masses between 4×10^-14 and 10^-13 eV. These particles, if they exist, can form "superradiance clouds" around spinning black holes that affect merger rates in dense galactic environments. By analyzing mass ratios of merging black hole pairs from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA catalog, the study provides a new method to test for these mysterious particles that complements existing black hole spin measurement approaches.
Why it matters
This work offers a novel way to search for exotic fundamental particles predicted by some theories of physics beyond the Standard Model, using astrophysical observations rather than terrestrial particle accelerators. Understanding whether ultralight scalars exist could help resolve outstanding questions in cosmology, including the nature of dark matter.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
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Abstract: Ultralight scalars can form long-lived, macroscopic bound states around spinning black holes, known as superradiance clouds. These clouds provide an additional channel for energy dissipation during close encounters, enhancing the black hole binary formation and merger rates in dense environments such as galactic nuclei. We show that the rate of mergers with mass ratio below $3/10$ in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA GWTC-5 catalog can probe ultralight scalars in the mass range $[4times 10^{-14},10^{-13}]$ eV, complementing existing strategies based on black hole spin measurements.
Source: Constraining Ultralight Scalars with Black Hole Binary Mergers in Galactic Nuclei