Did LIGO Detect Dark Matter?

ORAL

Abstract

There is a possibility that the recent LIGO detection of gravitational waves originated from the merger of two primordial black holes, making up the dark matter. Thirty solar mass black holes, as detected by LIGO, lie within an allowed mass window for primordial black hole dark matter. Interestingly, our best estimates of the number of observable mergers fall within the range implied by current LIGO data. I will explain these estimates and discuss the (considerable!) theoretical uncertainties.

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Authors

  • Simeon Bird

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Ilias Cholis

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Julian Munoz

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Yacine Ali-Haimoud

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Marc Kamionkowski

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Ely Kovetz

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Alvise Raccanelli

    • Johns Hopkins University

  • Adam Riess

    • Johns Hopkins University