The possibility to detect gravitational waves (GW) from planetary-mass primordial black hole (PBH) binaries with electromagnetic (EM) detectors of high-frequency GWs is investigated. We consider two patented experimental designs, based on the inverse Gertsenshtein effect, in which incoming GWs passing through a static magnetic field induce EM excitations inside either a TM cavity or a TEM waveguide. The frequency response of the detectors is computed for post-newtonian GW waveforms. We find that such EM detectors based on current technology may achieve a strain sensitivity down to $h \sim 10^{-30}$, which generates an EM power variation of $10^{-10}$ W. This allows the detection of PBH binary mergers of mass around $10^{-5} M_\odot$ if they constitute more than $0.01$ percent of the dark matter, as suggested by recent microlensing observations. We envision that this class of detectors could also be used to detect cosmological GW backgrounds and probe sources in the early Universe at energies up to the GUT scale.
We propose a mechanism to evade the Lyth bound in models of inflation. We minimally extend the conventional single-field inflation model in general relativity (GR) to a theory with non-vanishing graviton mass in the very early universe. The modification primarily affects the tensor perturbation, while the scalar and vector perturbations are the same as the ones in GR with a single scalar field at least at the level of linear perturbation theory. During the reheating stage, the graviton mass oscillates coherently and leads to resonant amplification of the primordial tensor perturbation. After r…
We present a new realization of the resonant production of primordial black holes as well as gravitational waves in a two-stage inflation model consisting of a scalar field ϕwith an axion-monodromy-like periodic structure in the potential that governs the first stage and another field χwith a hilltop-like potential that dominates the second stage. The parametric resonance seeded by the periodic structure at the first stage amplifies the perturbations of both fields inside the Hubble radius. While the evolution of the background trajectory experiences a turn as the oscillatory barrier height in…
We present new constraints on the merging rates of planetary-mass and asteroid-mass primordial black hole binaries using limits on continuous waves(quasi-monochromatic, quasi-infinite duration signals) derived from an all-sky search for isolated compact objects in the first six months of the third observing run (O3a) of LIGO/Virgo. We calculate the merging rates of these binaries in a model-independent way, and convert them to constraints on the primordial black hole abundance with minimal modelling assumptions. Our results show that we are sensitive to sources at most $\mathcal{O}(10$ pc) awa…
After the end of inflation, the inflaton field oscillates around a local minimum of its potential and decays into ordinary matter. These oscillations trigger a resonant instability for cosmological perturbations with wavelengths that exit the Hubble radius close to the end of inflation. In this paper, we study the formation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) at these enhanced scales. We find that the production mechanism can be so efficient that PBHs subsequently dominate the content of the universe and reheating proceeds from their evaporation. Observational constraints on the PBH abundance als…
Gravitational waves can probe the existence of planetary-mass primordial black holes. Considering a mass range of $[10^{-7}-10^{-2}]M_\odot$, inspiraling primordial black holes could emit either continuous gravitational waves, quasi-monochromatic signals that last for many years, or transient continuous waves, signals whose frequency evolution follows a power law and last for $\mathcal{O}$(hours-months). We show that primordial black hole binaries in our galaxy may produce detectable gravitational waves for different mass functions and formation mechanisms. In order to detect these inspirals, …
Cosmic inflation driven by branes wrapping the extra dimensions involves Kaluza-Klein (KK) degrees of freedom in addition to the zero-mode position of the brane which plays the role of the inflaton. As the wrapped brane passes by localized sources or features along its inflationary trajectory in the extra dimensional space, the KK modes along the wrapped direction are excited and start to oscillate during inflation. We show that the oscillating KK modes induce parametric resonance for the curvature perturbations, generating sharp signals in the perturbation spectrum. The effective four dimensi…
Resonant conversion of high energy gravitons into photons in large scale cosmological magnetic fields at the post recombination epoch is considered. It is shown that the probability of the resonance photon production is much higher than the non-resonant one. As a result an observable isotropic background of cosmic gamma rays might be created. As shown in our previous paper, an early population of primordial black holes (PBHs) prior to big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) could be an efficient source of high frequency gravitational waves. For the primordial black hole mass about $10^8$ g the produced…
Light primordial black holes may comprise a dominant fraction of the dark matter in our Universe. This paper critically assesses whether planned and future gravitational wave detectors in the ultra-high-frequency band could constrain the fraction of dark matter composed of sub-solar primordial black holes. Adopting the state-of-the-art description of primordial black hole merger rates, we compare various signals with currently operating and planned detectors. As already noted in the literature, our findings confirm that detecting individual primordial black hole mergers with currently existing…
Solid-state gravitational-wave detectors at GHz frequencies: the search for the primordial stochastic GW background and light primordial black hole binaries
Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid(马德里自治大学理论物理研究所)
The power spectrum of the scalar-tensor inflation with a quadratic form Ricci scalar coupling function $Ω(ϕ)=1- 2ϕ/ϕ_c+(1+δ^2)(ϕ/ϕ_c)^2$ can be enhanced enough to produce primordial black holes and generate scalar-induced gravitational waves. The masses of primordial black holes and the frequencies of scalar-induced gravitational waves are controlled by the parameter $ϕ_c$, and their amplitudes are determined by the parameter $δ$. Primordial black holes with stellar masses, planetary masses, and masses around $10^{-12} M_\odot$ are produced and their abundances are obtained from the peak theor…
The Dark Side of the Moon: Listening to Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves
Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology(高等能源物理研究所,巴塞罗那科学技术学院);Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)(加泰罗尼亚研究高级学院);Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison(威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校物理系);PRISMA + Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP), JGU Mainz(PRISMA+卓越集群与美因茨理论物理研究所(MITP),美因茨约翰内斯古腾堡大学);Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), CNRS, Sorbonne Université(巴黎天体物理研究所,法国国家科学研究中心,索邦大学);Center for Astrophysics and Space Science (CASS), New York University Abu Dhabi(纽约大学阿布扎比分校天体物理学与空间科学中心);Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology, University of Nova Gorica(新戈里察大学天体物理学与宇宙学中心);Theoretical Physics Department, CERN(欧洲核子研究中心理论物理部);Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich(苏黎世大学物理研究所);Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica and Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICC), Universitat de Barcelona(巴塞罗那大学量子天体物理学系与宇宙科学研究所)
Primordial black holes of planetary masses captured by compact stars are widely studied to constrain their composition fraction of dark matter. Such a capture may lead to an inspiral process and be detected through gravitational wave signals. In this Letter, we study the post-capture inspiral process by considering two different kinds of compact stars, i.e., strange stars and neutron stars. The dynamical equations are numerically solved and the gravitational wave emission is calculated. It is found that the Advanced LIGO can detect the inspiraling of a $10^{-5}$ solar mass primordial black hol…