Search for a gravitational wave background from primordial black hole binaries using data from the first three LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing runs

TL;DR

This paper searches for a gravitational-wave background from primordial black hole binaries using LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data, constraining their contribution to dark matter based on non-detection results.

Contribution

It presents the first search for a primordial black hole gravitational-wave background using data from the combined LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing runs, considering different formation scenarios.

Findings

No detection of the gravitational-wave background was made.

Constraints on the primordial black hole contribution to dark matter were established.

Bayesian inference was used to analyze the data.

Abstract

Using the cross-correlation data from the first three observing runs of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration, we search for a gravitational-wave background (GWB) from primordial black holes, arising from the superposition of compact binary coalescence events. We consider both early and late binary formation mechanisms and perform Bayesian parameter inference. From the non-detection of the GWB, we provide constraints on the fraction of primordial black holes contributing to the present dark matter energy density.