The Impact of Dark Matter on Gravitational Wave Detection by Space-based Interferometers

TL;DR

Future space-based gravitational wave detectors like LISA could provide new ways to detect and study dark matter through its effects on waveforms, lensing, and direct interactions, offering insights into dark matter's nature.

Contribution

This review synthesizes current understanding of how dark matter influences gravitational wave signals and highlights potential detection mechanisms with upcoming space-based detectors.

Findings

Dark matter can modify compact-object orbits and inspiral dynamics.

Dark matter distribution causes gravitational lensing effects on waveforms.

Ultralight dark matter fields may directly couple with detectors.

Abstract

The existence of dark matter is supported by multiple astrophysical observations, yet its particle nature remains unknown. The development of gravitational wave astronomy, especially with future space-based detectors such as LISA, provides new opportunities to study the interactions between dark matter and compact-object systems. This review summarizes the main dark matter candidates and their macroscopic distributions, and highlights three mechanisms through which dark matter can affect gravitational wave observations: (1) modifications to compact-object orbits and the dynamics of systems such as extreme mass-ratio inspirals, including dark matter spikes, dynamical friction, and potential perturbations; (2) gravitational lensing effects induced by the spatial distribution of dark matter, altering waveform amplitudes and phases; and (3) direct couplings between ultralight dark matter fields and detectors. As low-frequency gravitational wave detection techniques are proposed and continue to develop, these effects may offer a novel avenue for probing the properties of dark matter, and combining precise waveform modeling with multi-messenger observations could reveal insights into its microscopic structure.