Self-Interacting Dark-Matter Spikes and the Final-Parsec Problem: Bayesian constraints from the NANOGrav 15-Year Gravitational-Wave Background

2025/06/22 by Tiruvaskar, Shreyas, Gordon, Chris · 2 citations
#Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.18153

Abstract

A self-interacting dark-matter (SIDM) density spike around merging supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may be able to supply the dynamical friction needed to shrink binaries from ∼ 1 pc to ∼ 10^-2 pc, thereby resolving the long-standing ''final-parsec problem''. Embedding the binary-halo system in a cosmological population model, we evolve the inspiral under the combined influence of gravitational-wave (GW) emission and SIDM drag, compute the resulting nanohertz GW background, and confront it with the NANOGrav 15-year pulsar-timing data. A six-parameter Bayesian analysis, performed with a Gaussian-process-accelerated Markov chain Monte Carlo, yields posterior constraints on the cross-section per unit mass and maximum circular velocity values that were consistent with independent galaxy-rotation and cluster-lensing limits. Within this parameter space, the SIDM spike remains intact, supplies sufficient friction to overcome the stellar depletion barrier, and produces a characteristic-strain spectrum that matches the NANOGrav signal as well as phenomenological astrophysical models.

Citations

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Cited by

• Ultralight Dark Matter Constraints from NanoHertz Gravitational Waves
• Probing the Nature of Dark Matter Self-Interactions Through Observations of Massive Black Hole Mergers

Related

• Self-interacting dark matter solves the final parsec problem of supermassive black hole mergers
• Probing Self-Interacting Dark Matter via Gravitational-Wave Background from Eccentric Supermassive Black Hole Mergers
• Accretion of self-interacting dark matter onto supermassive black holes
• The Formation and Evolution of Self-Interacting Dark Matter Halos
• Strong Lensing Perturbers from the SIDM Concerto Suite