Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “GRAVITATIONAL WAVES”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Massive black holes seeded by dark matter: Implications for little red dots and gravitational wave signatures

Observations of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshifts challenge standard seeding scenarios. We examine a dissipative self-interacting dark matter (dSIDM) model in which gravothermal collapse leads to the formation of massive BH seeds ab initio. We utilize a semianalytical framework to predict properties of the dSIDM-seeded SMBH population. Billion solar mass quasars are reproduced along with low-mass faint active galactic nuclei (known as little red dots) with SMBH-to-galaxy stellar mass ratios consistent with recent James Webb Space Telescope observations. To match the abundance of the observed bright quasars, a subpercent-level duty cycle is suggested, implying a large population of dormant SMBHs. The gravitational wave (GW) signals from mergers of these massive SMBHs can be detected by LISA while remaining within the NANOGrav constraints on the GW background. These results provide testable signatures of DM-driven SMBH formation, offering a pathway to probe hidden-sector physics through SMBH and GW observables.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

The primordial black holes that disappeared: connections to dark matter and MHz-GHz gravitational Waves

In the post-LIGO era, there has been a lot of focus on primordial black holes (PBHs) heavier than ~10 15 g as potential dark matter (DM) candidates. We point out that the branch of the PBH family that disappeared — PBHs lighter than ~10 9 g that ostensibly Hawking evaporated away in the early Universe — also constitute an interesting frontier for DM physics. Hawking evaporation itself serves as a portal through which such PBHs can illuminate new physics, for example by emitting dark sector particles. Here, taking a simple DM scalar singlet model as a template, we compute the abundance and mass of PBHs that could have provided, by Hawking evaporation, the correct DM relic density. We consider two classes of such PBHs: those originating from curvature perturbations generated by inflation, and those originating from false vacuum collapse during a first-order phase transition. For PBHs of both origins we compute the gravitational wave (GW) signals emanating from their formation stage: from second-order effects in the case of curvature perturbations, and from sound waves in the case of phase transitions. The GW signals have peak frequencies in the MHz-GHz range typical of such light PBHs. We compute the strength of such GWs compatible with the observed DM relic density, and find that the GW signal morphology can in principle allow one to distinguish between the two PBH formation histories.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Gravitational wave probes of massive gauge bosons at the cosmological collider

We extend the reach of the "cosmological collider" for massive gauge boson production during inflation from the CMB scales to the interferometer scales. Considering a Chern-Simons coupling between the gauge bosons and the pseudoscalar inflaton, one of the transverse gauge modes is efficiently produced and its inverse decay leaves an imprint in the primordial scalar and tensor perturbations. We study the correlation functions of these perturbations and derive the updated constraints on the parameter space from CMB observables. We then extrapolate the tensor power spectrum to smaller scales consistently taking into account the impact of the gauge field on inflationary dynamics. Our results show that the presence of massive gauge fields during inflation can be detected from characteristic gravitational wave signals encompassing the whole range of current and planned interferometers.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Gamma rays and gravitational waves from inelastic Higgs portal dark matter

We explore a simple and predictive dark matter scenario involving a complex scalar field, ϕ , coupled to the Higgs portal with no additional field content. In the UV, the field possesses a global U ( 1 ) symmetry which is broken by mass terms and Higgs portal interactions. In the mass basis, the complex field splits into a pair of real scalars with a small mass splitting (in analogy to pseudo-Dirac fermions), such that the Higgs portal acquires both diagonal and off-diagonal terms with respect to these eigenstates. In the parameter space where the off-diagonal interaction predominates, this scenario is safe from direct detection constraints. Moreover, this model provides a viable explanation for the longstanding Galactic Center γ -ray excess. Additionally, this model influences the Higgs potential in a way that could facilitate a strong first-order electroweak phase transition in the early Universe, potentially leading to a stochastic gravitational wave background that could fall within the reach of upcoming space-based detectors.

Hooper, Dan [Wisconsin U., Madison] (ORCID:0009000↗
DOE OSTI2020

Dark matter, dark radiation and gravitational waves from mirror Higgs parity

An exact parity replicates the Standard Model giving a Mirror Standard Model, SM ↔ SM ' . This “Higgs Parity” and the mirror electroweak symmetry are spontaneously broken by the mirror Higgs, ( H ' ) = v ' >> ( H ), yielding the Standard Model Higgs as a Pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Boson of an approximate SU (4) symmetry, with a quartic coupling λ SM ( v ' ) ~ 10 - 3 . Mirror electromagnetism is unbroken and dark matter is composed of e ' and \( {\overline{e}}^{\prime } \) . Direct detection may be possible via the kinetic mixing portal, and in unified theories this rate is correlated with the proton decay rate. With a high reheat temperature after inflation, the e t dark matter abundance is determined by freeze-out followed by dilution from decays of mirror neutrinos, ν ' → ℓH . Remarkably, this requires v ' ~ (10 8 –10 10 ) GeV, predicting a Higgs mass of 123 ± 3 GeV at 1 σ and a Standard Model neutrino mass of (10 - 2 –10 - 1 ) eV, consistent with observed neutrino masses. The mirror QCD sector exhibits a first order phase transition producing gravitational waves that may be detected by future observations. Mirror glueballs decay to mirror photons giving dark radiation with Δ N eff ~ 0 . 03–0 . 4. With a low reheat temperature after inflation, the e ' dark matter abundance is determined by freeze-in from the SM sector by either the Higgs or kinetic mixing portal.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Planck constraints and gravitational wave forecasts for primordial black hole dark matter seeded by multifield inflation

Here, we perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of a simple yet generic multifield inflation model characterized by two scalar fields coupled to each other and nonminimally coupled to gravity, fit to Planck 2018 cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. In particular, model parameters are constrained by data on the amplitude of the primordial power spectrum of scalar curvature perturbations on CMB scales A s , the spectral index n s , and the ratio of power in tensor to scalar modes r, with a prior that the primordial power spectrum should also lead to primordial black hole (PBH) production sufficient to account for the observed dark matter abundance. We find that n s in particular controls the constraints on our model. Whereas previous studies of PBH formation from an ultraslow-roll phase of inflation have highlighted the need for at least one model parameter to be highly fine-tuned, we identify a degeneracy direction in parameter space such that shifts by ~10% of one parameter can be compensated by comparable shifts in other parameters while preserving a close fit between model predictions and observations. Furthermore, we find this allowed parameter region produces observable gravitational wave signals in the frequency ranges to which upcoming experiments are projected to be sensitive, including Advanced LIGO and Virgo, the Einstein Telescope, Cosmic Explorer, DECIGO, and LISA.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improved Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves using Planck , WMAP, and BICEP/ Keck Observations through the 2018 Observing Season

Here, we present results from an analysis of all data taken by the BICEP2, Keck Array, and BICEP3 CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2018 observing season. We add additional Keck Array observations at 220 GHz and BICEP3 observations at 95 GHz to the previous 95/150/220 GHz dataset. The Q/U maps now reach depths of 2.8, 2.8, and 8.8 μK CMB arcmin at 95,150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈ 600 square degrees at 95 GHz and ≈ 400 square degrees at 150 and 220 GHz. The 220 GHz maps now achieve a signal-to-noise ratio on polarized dust emission exceeding that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto- and cross-spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz and evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed ΛCDM + r + dust + synchrotron + noise . The foreground model has seven parameters, and no longer requires a prior on the frequency spectral index of the dust emission taken from measurements on other regions of the sky. This model is an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r 0.05 < 0.036 at 95% confidence. Running maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that σ(r) = 0.009 . These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

AI ensemble for signal detection of higher order gravitational wave modes of quasi-circular, spinning, non-precessing binary black hole mergers

We introduce spatiotemporal-graph models that concurrently process data from the twin advanced LIGO detectors and the advanced Virgo detector. We trained these AI classifiers with 2.4 million IMRPhenomXPHM waveforms that describe quasi-circular, spinning, non-precessing binary black hole mergers with component masses m{1,2}∈[3M⊙,50M⊙], and individual spins sz{1,2}∈[−0.9,0.9]; and which include the (ℓ,|m|)={(2,2),(2,1),(3,3),(3,2),(4,4)} modes, and mode mixing effects in the ℓ=3,|m|=2 harmonics. We trained these AI classifiers within 22 hours using distributed training over 96 NVIDIA V100 GPUs in the Summit supercomputer. We then used transfer learning to create AI predictors that estimate the total mass of potential binary black holes identified by all AI classifiers in the ensemble. We used this ensemble, 3 classifiers for signal detection and 2 total mass predictors, to process a year-long test set in which we injected 300,000 signals. This year-long test set was processed within 5.19 minutes using 1024 NVIDIA A100 GPUs in the Polaris supercomputer (for AI inference) and 128 CPU nodes in the ThetaKNL supercomputer (for post-processing of noise triggers), housed at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility. These studies indicate that our AI ensemble provides state-of-the-art signal detection accuracy, and reports 2 misclassifications for every year of searched data. This is the first AI ensemble designed to search for and find higher order gravitational wave mode signals.

Tian, Minyang↗
DOE OSTI2021

A demonstration of improved constraints on primordial gravitational waves with delensing

We present a constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, derived from measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization $B$-modes with "delensing,'' whereby the uncertainty on $r$ contributed by the sample variance of the gravitational lensing $B$-modes is reduced by cross-correlating against a lensing $B$-mode template. This template is constructed by combining an estimate of the polarized CMB with a tracer of the projected large-scale structure. The large-scale-structure tracer used is a map of the cosmic infrared background derived from Planck satellite data, while the polarized CMB map comes from a combination of South Pole Telescope, BICEP/Keck, and Planck data. We expand the BICEP/Keck likelihood analysis framework to accept a lensing template and apply it to the BICEP/Keck data set collected through 2014 using the same parametric foreground modelling as in the previous analysis. From simulations, we find that the uncertainty on $r$ is reduced by $\sim10\%$, from $\sigma(r)$= 0.024 to 0.022, which can be compared with a $\sim26\%$ reduction obtained when using a perfect lensing template. Applying the technique to the real data, the constraint on $r$ is improved from $r_{0.05} < 0.090$ to $r_{0.05} < 0.082$ (95% C.L.). Furthermore, this is the first demonstration of improvement in an $r$ constraint through delensing.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗