Exploring the NANOGrav Signal and Planet-mass Primordial Black Holes through Higgs Inflation

TL;DR

This paper proposes that Higgs inflation with parametric amplification can explain the NANOGrav gravitational wave signal, predict planet-mass primordial black holes, and unify explanations for several astrophysical phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a Higgs inflation model with parametric amplification that links gravitational waves, primordial black holes, and observed microlensing events.

Findings

Higgs inflation can produce scalar-induced gravitational waves matching NANOGrav data.

The model predicts a significant population of planet-mass primordial black holes.

These black holes could account for Planet 9 and microlensing observations.

Abstract

The data recently released by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) provides compelling evidence supporting the existence of a stochastic signal that aligns with a gravitational-wave background. We show that the scalar-induced gravitational waves from the Higgs inflation model with the parametric amplification mechanism can explain this signal. Such a gravitational-wave background naturally predicts the substantial existence of planet-mass primordial black holes, which can be planet 9 in our solar system and the lensing objects for the ultrashort-timescale microlensing events observed by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Therefore, the NANOGrav signal, the potential Planet 9 in our solar system, and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment can be explained within the framework of Higgs inflation.