Self-interacting scalar dark matter around binary black holes

Bibliographic Details
Title: Self-interacting scalar dark matter around binary black holes
Authors: Aurrekoetxea, Josu C., Marsden, James, Clough, Katy, Ferreira, Pedro G.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Subject Terms: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, High Energy Physics - Theory
More Details: Gravitational waves can provide crucial insights about the environments in which black holes live. In this work, we use numerical relativity simulations to study the behaviour of self-interacting scalar (wave-like) dark matter clouds accreting onto isolated and binary black holes. We find that repulsive self-interactions smoothen the ``spike'' of an isolated black hole and saturate the density. Attractive self-interactions enhance the growth and result in more cuspy profiles, but can become unstable and undergo explosions akin to the superradiant bosenova that reduce the local cloud density. We quantify the impact of self-interactions on an equal-mass black hole merger by computing the dephasing of the gravitational-wave signal for a range of couplings. We find that repulsive self-interactions saturate the density of the cloud, thereby reducing the dephasing. For attractive self-interactions, the dephasing may be larger, but if these interactions dominate prior to the merger, the dark matter can undergo bosenova during the inspiral phase, disrupting the cloud and subsequently reducing the dephasing.
Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 1 movie: https://youtu.be/ZeoMlUHknUM. Matches version published in PRD
Document Type: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.110.083011
Access URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2409.01937
Accession Number: edsarx.2409.01937
Database: arXiv
More Details
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.110.083011