Searches for Sub-solar Mass Ultracompact Objects with Advanced LIGO
Open Access
- Author:
- Mc Clincy, Phoebe
- Millennium Scholars Program:
- Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASTRO)
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisor:
- Chad Richard Hanna, Thesis Supervisor
Jane Camilla Charlton, Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- black holes
LIGO
dark matter
primordial black holes
gravitational waves - Abstract:
- There is increasing interest in sub-solar mass (SSM) black holes (BHs) regarding the possibility that they are a component of dark matter (DM), due to the limited knowledge regarding its composition. Dark matter is a mysterious type of matter that composes 85 percent of the matter in the universe. Little is known about the actual makeup of dark matter. Thus, it is hypothesized that black holes could account for a portion of the DM. Specifically, it is theorized that primordial black holes (PBHs) could account for DM. PBHs, which are BHs born in the Big Bang, have yet to be detected. The primordial black hole theory of dark matter may be tested by running a targeted search for SSM ultracompact objects using data collected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). LIGO uses gravitational waves (GW), ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by energetic events in space, to discern information about systems of black holes and neutron stars in space. We define parameters that produce a search which simultaneously maximizes relative search sensitivity and minimizes computational cost. The dependence of template bank size on several parameter sets was tested, including the frequency range of the search, minimum mass, and spin. We determined that larger magnitudes of spin, wider frequency ranges, and smaller masses produce a larger template bank, and subsequently a higher computational cost. From this, we derived ideal parameters with which to conduct an Advanced LIGO search on O1 and O2 data for SSM binaries. A null result was produced from all searches; however, from our searches we are able to place constraints on the event rate and fraction of DM composed of SSM BHs, for BHs in the 0.2-1.0 solar masses range.