Hunting for Dark Particles with Gravitational Waves

TL;DR

This paper explores how gravitational wave observations can detect exotic compact objects made of dark sector particles, linking their microscopic properties to observable signatures and testing fundamental physics principles.

Contribution

It introduces a framework connecting dark particle microphysics to ECO macroscopic features and identifies unique gravitational wave signatures for detecting such objects.

Findings

ECOs can produce distinctive gravitational wave signals.

Gravitational waves can reveal properties of dark sector particles.

Potential to test Hawking's area theorem with ECO observations.

Abstract

The LIGO observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger has begun a new era in fundamental physics. If new dark sector particles, be they bosons or fermions, can coalesce into exotic compact objects (ECOs) of astronomical size, then the first evidence for such objects, and their underlying microphysical description, may arise in gravitational wave observations. In this work we study how the macroscopic properties of ECOs are related to their microscopic properties, such as dark particle mass and couplings. We then demonstrate the smoking gun exotic signatures that would provide observational evidence for ECOs, and hence new particles, in terrestrial gravitational wave observatories. Finally, we discuss how gravitational waves can test a core concept in general relativity: Hawking's area theorem.