TY - JOUR

T1 - Search for Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of Subsolar-Mass Binaries in the First Half of Advanced LIGO and Virgo’s Third Observing Run

AU - Nitz, Alexander H.

AU - Wang, Yi-Fan

N1 - Funding Information: National Science Foundation Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Dutch Nikhef Polish and Hungarian institutes Funding Information: We acknowledge the Max Planck Gesellschaft. We thank the computing team from AEI Hannover for their significant technical support. This research has made use of data from the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center (), a service of LIGO Laboratory, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, and the Virgo Collaboration. LIGO is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Virgo is funded by the French Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Italian Istituto Nazionale della Fisica Nucleare (INFN), and the Dutch Nikhef, with contributions by Polish and Hungarian institutes.

PY - 2021/10/6

Y1 - 2021/10/6

N2 - We present a search for gravitational waves from the coalescence of sub-solar mass black hole binaries using data from the first half of Advanced LIGO and Virgo's third observing run. The observation of a sub-solar mass black hole merger may be an indication of primordial origin; primordial black holes may contribute to the dark matter distribution. We search for black hole mergers where the primary mass is \(0.1-7 M_{\odot}\) and the secondary mass is \(0.1-1 M_{\odot}\). A variety of models predict the production and coalescence of binaries containing primordial black holes; some involve dynamical assembly which may allow for residual eccentricity to be observed. For component masses \(>0.5 M_{\odot}\), we also search for sources in eccentric orbits, measured at a reference gravitational-wave frequency of 10 Hz, up to \(e_{10}\sim 0.3\). We find no convincing candidates and place new upper limits on the rate of primordial black hole mergers. The merger rate of 0.5-0.5 (1.0-1.0)~\(M_{\odot}\) sources is \(<7100~(1200)\) Gpc\(^{-3}\)yr\(^{-1}\). Our limits are ∼3−4 times more constraining than prior analyses. Finally, we demonstrate how our limitscan be used to constrain arbitrary models of the primordial black hole massdistribution and merger rate.

AB - We present a search for gravitational waves from the coalescence of sub-solar mass black hole binaries using data from the first half of Advanced LIGO and Virgo's third observing run. The observation of a sub-solar mass black hole merger may be an indication of primordial origin; primordial black holes may contribute to the dark matter distribution. We search for black hole mergers where the primary mass is \(0.1-7 M_{\odot}\) and the secondary mass is \(0.1-1 M_{\odot}\). A variety of models predict the production and coalescence of binaries containing primordial black holes; some involve dynamical assembly which may allow for residual eccentricity to be observed. For component masses \(>0.5 M_{\odot}\), we also search for sources in eccentric orbits, measured at a reference gravitational-wave frequency of 10 Hz, up to \(e_{10}\sim 0.3\). We find no convincing candidates and place new upper limits on the rate of primordial black hole mergers. The merger rate of 0.5-0.5 (1.0-1.0)~\(M_{\odot}\) sources is \(<7100~(1200)\) Gpc\(^{-3}\)yr\(^{-1}\). Our limits are ∼3−4 times more constraining than prior analyses. Finally, we demonstrate how our limitscan be used to constrain arbitrary models of the primordial black hole massdistribution and merger rate.

KW - astro-ph.HE

KW - gr-qc

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116929384&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.151101

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.151101

M3 - Article

VL - 127

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

SN - 0031-9007

IS - 15

M1 - 151101

ER -