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Scalar fields around black hole binaries in LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA

6 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

6 Pith papers citing it
abstract

Light scalar particles arise naturally in many extensions of the Standard Model and are compelling dark-matter candidates. Gravitational interactions near black holes can trigger the growth of dense scalar configurations that, if sustained during inspiral, alter binary dynamics and imprint signatures on gravitational-wave signals. Detecting such effects would provide a novel probe of fundamental physics and dark matter. Here we develop a semi-analytic waveform model for binaries in scalar environments, validate it against numerical relativity simulations, and apply it in a Bayesian analysis of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA catalog. We obtain physically meaningful upper limits on scalar densities around most compact binaries. For GW190728 and GW190814, vacuum lies outside the $95\%$ credible region. When including superradiance priors, GW190728 shows tentative evidence for a scalar environment with a Bayes factor of $\ln \mathrm{B}^{\rm env}_{\rm vac} \approx 3.5$, consistent with a light scalar of mass $\sim10^{-12}\,\mathrm{eV}$.

fields

gr-qc 5 hep-ph 1

years

2026 4 2025 2

verdicts

UNVERDICTED 6

representative citing papers

Boson Stars Hosting Black Holes

gr-qc · 2025-11-05 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Numerical and analytic modeling of boson star-black hole systems in the nonrelativistic limit, with Fisher analysis indicating LISA sensitivity to ultralight dark matter mass and self-coupling via gravitational wave dephasing.

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Showing 6 of 6 citing papers.