Binary Neutron Star Mergers with Missing Electromagnetic Counterparts as Manifestations of Mirror World

TL;DR

This paper proposes that many binary neutron star mergers detected by LIGO/Virgo originate from a hidden mirror sector, explaining the lack of electromagnetic counterparts and predicting that only a small fraction should have observable electromagnetic signals.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that mirror matter could account for most binary mergers and explains the absence of electromagnetic signals in these events, offering a new perspective on dark matter and gravitational wave observations.

Findings

Most binary mergers may originate from mirror matter.

Electromagnetic counterparts are expected in only about 10% of such mergers.

LIGO/Virgo data supports the predicted scarcity of electromagnetic signals.

Abstract

We suggest that the major fraction of binary mergers, which might provide gravitational wave signal detectable by LIGO/Virgo, emerged from the hidden mirror sector. Mirror particles do not interact with an ordinary observer except gravitationally, which is the reason why no electromagnetic signals accompanying gravitational waves from mergers with components composed of mirror matter are expected. Therefore, if the dark matter budget of the universe is mostly contributed by the mirror particles, we predict that only about one binary neutron star (neutron star - black hole) merger out of ten, observable by LIGO/Virgo, in particular at favorable conditions relative to the line of sight, could be accompanied by prompt gamma ray burst and other electromagnetic signals suitable for follow up observations. It seems the list of candidate events recorded by LIGO/Virgo during third observational run supports our predictions.