Search

We investigate the imprints of accretion and dynamical friction on the gravitational-wave signals emitted by binary black holes embedded in a scalar dark matter cloud. As a key feature in this work, we focus on scalar fields with a repulsive self-interaction that balances against the self-gravity of the cloud. To a first approximation, the phase of the gravitational-wave signal receives extra correction terms at $-4$PN and $-5.5$PN orders, relative to the prediction of vacuum general relativity, due to accretion and dynamical friction, respectively. Future observations by LISA and B-DECIGO have the potential to detect these effects for a large range of scalar masses~$m_\mathrm{DM}$ and self-interaction couplings~$\lambda_4$; observations by ET and Advanced~LIGO could also detect these effects, albeit in a more limited region of parameter space. Crucially, we find that even if a dark matter cloud has a bulk density~$\rho_0$ that is too dilute to be detected via the effects of dynamical friction, the imprints of accretion could still be observable because it is controlled by the independent scale $\rho_a = 4 m_{\rm DM}^4 c^3/(3 \lambda_4 \hbar^3)$. In the models we consider, the infalling dark matter increases in density up to this characteristic scale $\rho_a$ near the Schwarzschild radius, which sets the accretion rate and its associated impact on the gravitational~waveform., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables

The gravitational waves emitted by binary systems with extreme mass ratios carry unique astrophysical information expected to be probed by the next generation of gravitational wave detectors such as LISA. The detection of these binaries rely on an accurate modeling of the gravitational self-force that drives their orbital evolution. Although the theoretical formalism to compute the self-force has been largely established, the mathematical tools needed to implement it are still under development, and the self-force computation remains an open problem. We present here a frequency-domain implementation of the particle-without-particle (PwP) technique previously developed for the computation of the scalar self-force -- a helpful testbed for the gravitational self-force., Comment: 2 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the 11th International LISA Symposium (Zurich, 5-9 September 2016), in Journal of Physics: Conference Series

International audience; The gravitational waves emitted by binary systems with extreme mass ratios carry unique astrophysical information expected to be probed by the next generation of gravitational wave detectors such as LISA. The detection of these binaries rely on an accurate modeling of the gravitational self-force that drives their orbital evolution. Although the theoretical formalism to compute the self-force has been largely established, the mathematical tools needed to implement it are still under development, and the self-force computation remains an open problem. We present here a frequency-domain implementation of the particle-without-particle (PwP) technique previously developed for the computation of the scalar self-force – a helpful testbed for the gravitational self-force.