Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance using Pulsar Parameter Drifts

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Autori principali: Bi, Yan-Chen, Wu, Yu-Mei, Huang, Qing-Guo
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Bi, Yan-Chen
Wu, Yu-Mei
Huang, Qing-Guo
author_facet Bi, Yan-Chen
Wu, Yu-Mei
Huang, Qing-Guo
contents Primordial black holes (PBHs) provide a compelling interpretation for the binary black holes (BBHs) observed by ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, especially for those BBHs in the theoretical mass gap. In the early Universe, the scalar perturbations required to produce such PBHs inevitably generate scalar-induced GWs (SIGWs). These SIGWs peak in the sub-nanohertz band, and manifest secularly as measurable jerk-like drifts in the second derivative of pulsar spin periods. In this Letter, we perform the first search for SIGWs using pulsar parameter drifts, and place a 95\% confidence-level upper limit on the PBH abundance of $f_{\mathrm{PBH}} < 10^{-10}$ over the mass range $[3 \times 10^{-1}, 4 \times 10^{4}] M_{\odot}$. Our results strongly disfavor a PBH origin for the BBHs currently detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaborations.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_22634
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance using Pulsar Parameter Drifts
Bi, Yan-Chen
Wu, Yu-Mei
Huang, Qing-Guo
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Primordial black holes (PBHs) provide a compelling interpretation for the binary black holes (BBHs) observed by ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, especially for those BBHs in the theoretical mass gap. In the early Universe, the scalar perturbations required to produce such PBHs inevitably generate scalar-induced GWs (SIGWs). These SIGWs peak in the sub-nanohertz band, and manifest secularly as measurable jerk-like drifts in the second derivative of pulsar spin periods. In this Letter, we perform the first search for SIGWs using pulsar parameter drifts, and place a 95\% confidence-level upper limit on the PBH abundance of $f_{\mathrm{PBH}} < 10^{-10}$ over the mass range $[3 \times 10^{-1}, 4 \times 10^{4}] M_{\odot}$. Our results strongly disfavor a PBH origin for the BBHs currently detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaborations.
title Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance using Pulsar Parameter Drifts
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.22634