Probing neutron stars and dark matter with continuous gravitational waves

The third observing run of advanced LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA brought unprecedented sensitivity towards a variety of quasi-monochromatic, persistent gravitational-wave signals. These signals, called continuous waves, allow us to probe not just the canonical asymmetrically rotating neutron stars, but also different forms of dark matter, thus showing the wide-ranging astrophysical implications of using a relatively simple signal model. In this colloquium, I will first describe the framework within which we try to detect continuous gravitational waves from asymmetrically rotating neutron stars, as well as how we can use these signals to constrain the millisecond pulsar hypothesis for the galactic-center GeV excess. I will then generalize continuous-wave methodologies to include the different forms of dark matter that we could detect using gravitational-wave detectors, specifically: (1) the direct interaction of dark matter with the gravitational-wave detectors themselves; (2) gravitational waves from planetary- or asteroid-mass primordial black hole inspirals and so-called “mini” extreme mass ratio inspirals, and (3) gravitational waves from annihilating boson clouds around spinning black holes.

May 21, 2023 12:00 AM

Seminar at ICTP-SAIFR