Constraints on primordial black holes from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA O3 events

Constraints on primordial black holes from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA O3 events

August 1, 2024 | M. Andrés-Carcasone, A.J. Iovino, V. Vaskonen, H. Veermae, M. Martínez, O. Pujolas, L.L.M. Mirt
This paper presents updated constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs) using data from the third observational run (O3) of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave (GW) collaboration. PBHs can form in the early universe through various mechanisms, including critical collapse of primordial overdensities and non-Gaussian initial conditions. The study considers a wide range of PBH mass functions, including those arising from the QCD phase transition and primordial non-Gaussianities. Using a hierarchical Bayesian analysis, the researchers examine the population of BH binaries consisting of both PBHs and astrophysical black holes (ABHs). The results show that in all considered scenarios, PBHs can make up at most $ f_{PBH} \lesssim 10^{-3} $ of dark matter in the mass range $ 1 - 200 M_{\odot} $. The constraints are not significantly affected by the type of non-Gaussianities, the modifications to the mass function during the QCD epoch, or the modeling of the astrophysical PBH population. The study also considers different mass functions, including monochromatic, log-normal, and critical collapse mass functions. The results show that the constraints are largely insensitive to the detailed shape of the mass function and that the monochromatic mass function captures the order of magnitude of the constraints. The analysis also includes the effect of the QCD phase transition, which enhances the mass function around $ 1M_{\odot} $, and the effect of non-Gaussianities. The study concludes that the PBH abundance is constrained to $ f_{PBH} \lesssim 10^{-3} $ in the mass range $ 1-300M_{\odot} $ in all considered scenarios.This paper presents updated constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs) using data from the third observational run (O3) of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave (GW) collaboration. PBHs can form in the early universe through various mechanisms, including critical collapse of primordial overdensities and non-Gaussian initial conditions. The study considers a wide range of PBH mass functions, including those arising from the QCD phase transition and primordial non-Gaussianities. Using a hierarchical Bayesian analysis, the researchers examine the population of BH binaries consisting of both PBHs and astrophysical black holes (ABHs). The results show that in all considered scenarios, PBHs can make up at most $ f_{PBH} \lesssim 10^{-3} $ of dark matter in the mass range $ 1 - 200 M_{\odot} $. The constraints are not significantly affected by the type of non-Gaussianities, the modifications to the mass function during the QCD epoch, or the modeling of the astrophysical PBH population. The study also considers different mass functions, including monochromatic, log-normal, and critical collapse mass functions. The results show that the constraints are largely insensitive to the detailed shape of the mass function and that the monochromatic mass function captures the order of magnitude of the constraints. The analysis also includes the effect of the QCD phase transition, which enhances the mass function around $ 1M_{\odot} $, and the effect of non-Gaussianities. The study concludes that the PBH abundance is constrained to $ f_{PBH} \lesssim 10^{-3} $ in the mass range $ 1-300M_{\odot} $ in all considered scenarios.
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Understanding Constraints on primordial black holes from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA O3 events