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Sharp Signals of Boson Clouds in Black Hole Binary Inspirals

Daniel Baumann, Gianfranco Bertone, John Stout, and Giovanni Maria Tomaselli
Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 221102 – Published 2 June 2022
Physics logo See synopsis: Ionizing Black Hole “Atoms”

Abstract

Gravitational waves (GWs) are an exciting new probe of physics beyond the standard models of gravity and particle physics. One interesting possibility is provided by the so-called “gravitational atom,” wherein a superradiant instability spontaneously forms a cloud of ultralight bosons around a rotating black hole. The presence of these boson clouds affects the dynamics of black hole binary inspirals and their associated GW signals. In this Letter, we show that the binary companion can induce transitions between bound and unbound states of the cloud, effectively “ionizing” it, analogous to the photoelectric effect in atomic physics. The orbital energy lost in this process can overwhelm the losses due to GW emission, so that ionization drives the inspiral rather than merely perturbing it. We show that the ionization power contains sharp features that lead to distinctive “kinks” in the evolution of the emitted GW frequency. These discontinuities are a unique signature of the boson cloud, and observing them would not only constitute a detection of the ultralight boson itself, but also provide direct information about its mass and the state of the cloud.

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  • Received 1 March 2022
  • Revised 25 March 2022
  • Accepted 27 April 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.221102

© 2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particles & FieldsGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

synopsis

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Ionizing Black Hole “Atoms”

Published 2 June 2022

Distinctive features of gravitational-wave signals from black hole mergers could reveal the existence of long-sought ultralight bosons.

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Authors & Affiliations

Daniel Baumann1,2,3, Gianfranco Bertone1, John Stout4, and Giovanni Maria Tomaselli1

  • 1Gravitation Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1098 XH, Netherlands
  • 2Center for Theoretical Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
  • 3Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
  • 4Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

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Issue

Vol. 128, Iss. 22 — 3 June 2022

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