Dark Matter-Independent Orbital Decay Bounds on Ultralight Bosons from OJ287

TL;DR

This paper uses century-long observations of the OJ287 black hole binary to set new, DM-independent bounds on ultralight boson masses, providing a novel method to probe dark matter candidates through black hole dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a new dynamical method to constrain ultralight boson masses using black hole binary observations, independent of dark matter models.

Findings

Set bounds on boson masses: (8.5-22) x 10^{-22} eV.

Demonstrated robustness of constraints against DM-model uncertainties.

Proposed implications for gravitational wave background and black hole evolution.

Abstract

Ultralight bosons, predicted in scenarios beyond the Standard Model and viable dark matter (DM) candidates, can form superradiant clouds around spinning black holes influencing their dynamics. Using century-long monitored OJ287 supermassive black hole binary we set first DM-independent, dynamical constraints on their masses $\mu = (8.5-22) \times 10^{-22}$ eV. These dynamical constraints, driven by boson cloud friction, are robust against DM-model uncertainties and offer a novel ultralight boson probe. We show that analogous superradiant dynamics across the cosmic population of supermassive black hole systems could help resolve final-parsec evolution stalling problem and imprint a detectable suppression and break in the gravitational wave background.