Signals of merging supermassive primordial black holes in pulsar timing arrays

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Depta, Paul Frederik, Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai, Schwaller, Pedro, Tasillo, Carlo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Depta, Paul Frederik
Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai
Schwaller, Pedro
Tasillo, Carlo
author_facet Depta, Paul Frederik
Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai
Schwaller, Pedro
Tasillo, Carlo
contents In this work we evaluate whether the gravitational wave background recently observed by a number of different pulsar timing arrays could be due to merging primordial supermassive black hole binaries. We find that for homogeneously distributed primordial black holes this possibility is inconsistent with strong cosmological and astrophysical constraints on their total abundance. If the distribution exhibits some clustering, however, the merger rate will, in general, be enhanced, opening the window for a consistent interpretation of the pulsar timing array data in terms of merging primordial black holes, if $μ$-distortion constraints associated with the formation mechanism can be evaded.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_17836
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Signals of merging supermassive primordial black holes in pulsar timing arrays
Depta, Paul Frederik
Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai
Schwaller, Pedro
Tasillo, Carlo
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
In this work we evaluate whether the gravitational wave background recently observed by a number of different pulsar timing arrays could be due to merging primordial supermassive black hole binaries. We find that for homogeneously distributed primordial black holes this possibility is inconsistent with strong cosmological and astrophysical constraints on their total abundance. If the distribution exhibits some clustering, however, the merger rate will, in general, be enhanced, opening the window for a consistent interpretation of the pulsar timing array data in terms of merging primordial black holes, if $μ$-distortion constraints associated with the formation mechanism can be evaded.
title Signals of merging supermassive primordial black holes in pulsar timing arrays
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.17836