Université de GenèveDépartement de Physique ThéoriqueCAP Genève

The Astro-Primordial Black Hole Merger Rates: a Reappraisal

Date: 
8. December 2020
Cite as: 
K. Kritos, V. De Luca, G. Franciolini, A. Kehagias, A. Riotto, (2020) [arXiv:2012.03585].
Summary: 
Mainly motivated by the recent GW190521 mass gap event which we take as a benchmark point, we critically assess if binaries made of a primordial black hole and a black hole of astrophysical origin may form, merge in stellar clusters and reproduce the LIGO/Virgo detection rate. While two previously studied mechanisms -- the direct capture and the three body induced -- seem to be inefficient, we propose a new "catalysis" channel based on the idea that a subsequent chain of single-binary and binary-binary exchanges may lead to the formation of a high mass binary pairs and show that it may explain the recent GW190521 event if the local overdensity of primordial black holes in the globular cluster is larger than a few.

Address

Département de Physique Théorique
Université de Genève
24, quai Ernest Ansermet
1211 Genève 4
Switzerland
Directions & contact