Cosmological Implications of the Slingshot Effect: Gravitational Waves, Primordial Black Holes and Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the slingshot effect during phase transitions and string theory scenarios can generate gravitational waves, primordial black holes, and dark matter, offering new insights into cosmological phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces the slingshot effect as a mechanism influencing gravitational wave production, black hole formation, and dark matter in various cosmological and string theory contexts.

Findings

Slingshot effect can source gravitational waves during phase transitions.

It can lead to primordial black hole formation in relevant mass ranges.

The effect contributes to dark matter production via Kaluza-Klein gravitons.

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the implications of the so-called slingshot effect. It represents a rather general phenomenon occurring when a localized source, such as a monopole, quark, or a $D$-brane, crosses a domain wall separating the confined (Higgsed) and unconfined (Coulomb) phases of the crossing source. The crossover is accompanied by a stretched ``string'' of proper co-dimensionality that confines the source to the domain wall. The effect takes place for different setups, such as phase transitions leading to confinement, both electric and magnetic, as well as in string theoretic inflation with $D$-branes. We discuss the role of the phenomenon in sourcing gravitational waves and dark matter in the form of Kaluza-Klein gravitons. We also show that the slingshot effect can lead to the formation of primordial black holes in observationally interesting mass ranges for dark matter and high-energy cosmic rays.