Speaker: Josu C. Aurrekoetxea
The effect of wave dark matter on equal-mass black hole mergers
Some of the most well-motivated extensions of the standard model of particle physics introduce extra fundamental fields to explain the origin of dark matter. These fields interact with black holes and can alter the waveforms produced by binary merger events. However, the prevailing wisdom is that mergers of equal-mass black holes do not experience significant effects. In this talk, I will show, using new numerical relativity simulations, that dark matter accumulates between the compact objects and induces a much faster orbital decay than previously estimated. I will also describe how the presence of black holes can catalyze the vacuum decay of fundamental fields.