NSF Award
2207912
The nature of dark matter remains to date one of the most fundamental questions of physics. This project will make gravitational-wave observations by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and future Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, a part of our toolset in searching for the nature of dark matter and in understanding the early universe. The PI will develop software to analyze GW data in order to gain insight on the creation of black holes at the beginning of the Universe (primordial black holes or PBH). These BHs are a potential important component of some models for dark matter, a critical component of our Universe that has yet to be identified. A graduate student and three undergraduate students will be mentored in gravitational-wave research and data analysis. This will allow them to pursue future careers in academia or industry at an era when data science is of great significance to the future prosperity and security of the US. The PI will give public talks and organize amateur astronomy events accessible to the local community, making the field of astronomy and astrophysics a more inclusive one.<br/> <br/>This project will develop new probes to search for signals of primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter at gravitational-wave observations. It will directly test the predictions of PBH dark matter using new and upcoming data from the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaborations. It will also develop the means to use future observations from next-generation gravitational-wave observatories, to test the wide variety of features expected from the PBH dark matter model. This project will use the full information available, including the masses, spins, orbital eccentricity and redshift distribution of the merging black holes, and will address a wide variety of future gravitational-wave observatories. This project will employ and develop analytical and semi-numerical modeling to study the dynamical formation of compact object pairs, via multiple pathways that occur at the cores of globular clusters, dense stellar environments and dense dark matter halos. This will allow the comparison of the potential dark matter signals in gravitational waves and their closest more conventional astrophysical stellar mass black hole backgrounds next to each other. The project will directly probe the primordial black holes mass spectrum up to hundreds of solar masses and significantly improve our understanding for the primordial perturbations in the early Universe.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
