Domain wall interpretation of the PTA signal confronting black hole overproduction

2023/06/30 by Gouttenoire, Yann, Vitagliano, Edoardo · 6 citations
#Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2306.17841

Abstract

Recently, Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations have detected a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at nano-Hz frequencies, with Domain Wall networks (DWs) proposed as potential sources. To be cosmologically viable, they must annihilate before dominating the universe energy budget, thus generating a SGWB. While sub-horizon DWs shrink and decay rapidly, causality requires DWs with super-horizon size to continue growing until they reach the Hubble horizon. Those entering the latest can be heavier than a Hubble patch and collapse into Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). We conduct a Bayesian analysis of the PTA signal, interpreting it as an outcome of SGWB from DW networks, with a prior ensuring no PBH overproduction. Our findings indicate that DWs result in the production of solar-mass PBHs. The binary mergers occurring within these PBHs generate a second SGWB in the kilo-Hz domain which could be observable in on-going or planned Earth-based interferometers.

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• Implications for Pulsar Timing Arrays of Sub-solar Black Hole Detections: From LVK to Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer
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