Detecting dark matter with extreme mass-ratio inspirals

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhang, Chao, Fu, Guoyang, Dai, Ning
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Zhang, Chao
Fu, Guoyang
Dai, Ning
author_facet Zhang, Chao
Fu, Guoyang
Dai, Ning
contents Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), where a small compact object inspiralls onto a supermassive black hole, are excellent sources for the space-based laser interferometer gravitational wave (GW) detectors. The presence of dark matter surrounding the supermassive black hole will influence the binary orbital evolution and emitted gravitational waveform. By direct observation of GW signals, we assess the detector's capability to detect whether an EMRI is immersed in a dark matter halo and to measure its characteristic spatial scale $a_0$ and mass $M_{\rm halo}$. Apart from the GW emission, the dynamical friction and accretion caused by the dark matter halo can also affect the dynamics of an EMRI, leaving detectable signatures in the emitted gravitational signal. We perform a Fisher-matrix error analysis to estimate the errors of parameters $a_0$ and $M_{\rm halo}$, as well as their correlation. The results show that the highly correlated parameters $a_0$ and $M_{\rm halo}$ deteriorate the detector's ability to measure dark matter even though the dephasing and mismatch between signals with and without dark matter indicate much difference. The effects of the dynamical friction and accretion can break possible degeneracies between parameters $a_0$ and $M_{\rm halo}$, thus greatly decreasing the uncertainty by about one order of magnitude.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_04467
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Detecting dark matter with extreme mass-ratio inspirals
Zhang, Chao
Fu, Guoyang
Dai, Ning
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), where a small compact object inspiralls onto a supermassive black hole, are excellent sources for the space-based laser interferometer gravitational wave (GW) detectors. The presence of dark matter surrounding the supermassive black hole will influence the binary orbital evolution and emitted gravitational waveform. By direct observation of GW signals, we assess the detector's capability to detect whether an EMRI is immersed in a dark matter halo and to measure its characteristic spatial scale $a_0$ and mass $M_{\rm halo}$. Apart from the GW emission, the dynamical friction and accretion caused by the dark matter halo can also affect the dynamics of an EMRI, leaving detectable signatures in the emitted gravitational signal. We perform a Fisher-matrix error analysis to estimate the errors of parameters $a_0$ and $M_{\rm halo}$, as well as their correlation. The results show that the highly correlated parameters $a_0$ and $M_{\rm halo}$ deteriorate the detector's ability to measure dark matter even though the dephasing and mismatch between signals with and without dark matter indicate much difference. The effects of the dynamical friction and accretion can break possible degeneracies between parameters $a_0$ and $M_{\rm halo}$, thus greatly decreasing the uncertainty by about one order of magnitude.
title Detecting dark matter with extreme mass-ratio inspirals
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.04467