Searching for Primordial Black Holes in the Radio and X-Ray Sky

Gaggero, Daniele; Bertone, Gianfranco; Calore, Francesca; Connors, Riley; Lovell, Mark R.; Markoff, Sera; Storm, Emma

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.118.241101

Cited by 157 publications

(197 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In the mean time, there are a number of other interesting astrophysical probes in that mass range. These include future measurements of the stochastic gravitational-wave background [56][57][58][59][60] and of the mass spectrum [61], redshift distribution [62], and orbital eccentricies [63] for future binary-black-hole mergers; lensing of fast radio bursts by PBHs [64]; pulsar timing [65,66]; radio/x-ray sources [67] or the cosmic infrared background [68]; the dynamics of compact stellar systems [54]; strong-lensing systems [69]; and perhaps clustering of GW events [70][71][72][73]. The conclusions of our work suggest that it will be important to pursue vigorously these alternative avenues.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cosmic microwave background limits on accreting primordial black holes

2017

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Interest in the idea that primordial black holes (PBHs) might comprise some or all of the dark matter has recently been rekindled following LIGO's first direct detection of a binary-black-hole merger. Here we revisit the effect of accreting PBHs on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) frequency spectrum and angular temperature/polarization power spectra. We compute the accretion rate and luminosity of PBHs, accounting for their suppression by Compton drag and Compton cooling by CMB photons. We estimate the gas temperature near the Schwarzschild radius, and hence the free-free luminosity, accounting for the cooling resulting from collisional ionization when the background gas is mostly neutral. We account approximately for the velocities of PBHs with respect to the background gas. We provide a simple analytic estimate of the efficiency of energy deposition in the plasma. We find that the spectral distortions generated by accreting PBHs are too small to be detected by FIRAS, as well as by future experiments now being considered. We analyze Planck CMB temperature and polarization data and find, under our most conservative hypotheses, and at the order-of-magnitude level, that they rule out PBHs with masses 10 2 M as the dominant component of dark matter.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cosmic microwave background limits on accreting primordial black holes

2017

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“…The first two windows (as well as the one Kühnel & Freese (2017) describe) are unreachable by LIGO, and the ∼ 25 − 100M interval could yield LIGO detection rates inconsistent with the works of Sasaki et al (2016) and Eroshenko (2016). Additionally, new constraints by Gaggero et al (2017) place similar limits to Eri II and Segue I on PBH DM in the window 25 − 100M using observations with independent systematics, making this window less likely to contain all of the dark matter.…”

Section: An Overview Of Constraints On Primordial Black Hole Dark Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has since been pointed out that the monochromatic scenario has two problems. First, constraints from dwarf galaxy dynamics and radio emissions imply that not all of dark matter can be explained by ∼ 30M black holes (Brandt 2016;Koushiappas & Loeb 2017;Gaggero et al 2017). Second, the expected merger rate predicted by this model would be above the inferred merger rate provided by LIGO (Sasaki et al 2016;Eroshenko 2016;Abbott et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the Potential Dark Matter Origin of LIGO’s Black Holes

Magee

Hanna

2017

ApJL

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The nature of dark matter (DM) remains one of the biggest open questions in physics. One intriguing dark matter candidate, primordial black holes (PBHs), has faced renewed interest following LIGO's detection of gravitational waves from merging stellar mass black holes. While subsequent work has ruled out the possibility that dark matter could consist solely of black holes similar to those that LIGO has detected with masses above 10M , LIGO's connection to dark matter remains unknown. In this work we consider a distribution of primordial black holes that accounts for all of the dark matter, is consistent with all of LIGO's observations arising from primordial black hole binaries, and resolves tension in previous surveys of microlensing events in the Milky Way halo. The primordial black hole mass distribution that we consider offers an important prediction-LIGO may detect black holes smaller than have ever been observed with ∼ 1% of the black holes it detects having a mass less than the mass of our Sun and ∼ 10% with masses in the mass-gap. Approximately one year of operating advanced LIGO at design sensitivity should be adequate to begin to see a hint of a primordial black hole mass distribution. Detecting primordial black hole binaries below a solar mass will be readily distinguishable from other known compact binary systems, thereby providing an unambiguous observational window for advanced LIGO to pin down the nature of dark matter.

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“…The dark matter fraction of more massive PBHs, (M/M ) 10, is constrained by their dynamical effects on dwarf galaxies [11,12] and halo wide binaries [13][14][15][16], X-ray and radio emission from accretion onto PBHs in the Milky Way [17,18] and the effects of radiation produced due to accretion onto PBHs in the early Universe on the Cosmic Microwave Background [19][20][21][22][23]. See Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The long-dashed dark green lines show the limits from radio and X-ray emission due to accretion onto PBHs in the Milky Way, from left to right at low M : the 3σ X-ray constraint from Ref. [17] the X-ray constraint, with no dark disc, from Ref. [18] and the 3σ radio constraint from Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrophysical uncertainties on stellar microlensing constraints on multisolar mass primordial black hole dark matter

Green

2017

Phys. Rev. D

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There has recently been interest in multi-Solar mass Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) as a dark matter (DM) candidate. There are various microlensing, dynamical and accretion constraints on the abundance of PBHs in this mass range. Taken at face value these constraints exclude multi-Solar mass PBHs making up all of the DM for both delta-function and extended mass functions. However the stellar microlensing event rate depends on the density and velocity distribution of the compact objects along the line of sight to the Magellanic Clouds. We study the dependence of the constraints on the local dark matter density and circular speed and also consider models where the velocity distribution varies with radius. We find that the largest mass constrained by stellar microlensing can vary by an order of magnitude. In particular the constraints are significantly weakened if the velocity dispersion of the compact objects is reduced. The change is not sufficiently large to remove the tension between the stellar microlensing and dynamical constraints. However this demonstrates that it is crucial to take into account astrophysical uncertainties when calculating and comparing constraints. We also confirm the recent finding that the tension between the constraints is in fact increased for realistic, finite width mass functions.

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Searching for Primordial Black Holes in the Radio and X-Ray Sky

Cited by 157 publications

References 55 publications

Cosmic microwave background limits on accreting primordial black holes

Cosmic microwave background limits on accreting primordial black holes

Disentangling the Potential Dark Matter Origin of LIGO’s Black Holes

Astrophysical uncertainties on stellar microlensing constraints on multisolar mass primordial black hole dark matter

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