Probing primordial black holes at high redshift with future gravitational wave detectors

Abstract

Abstract We analyze the detection prospects for potential Primordial Black Hole Binary (PBHB) populations buried in the Stellar-Origin Black Hole Binary (SOBHB) population inferred by the LVK collaboration. We consider different PBHB population scenarios and several future Gravitational Wave (GW) detectors. To separate the PBHB component from the SOBHB one, we exploit the prediction that the PBHB merger rate does not decline as fast as the SOBHB one at high redshift. However, only a tiny fraction of PBHB events may be resolved individually, and the sub-threshold events may yield an undetectable Stochastic GW Background (SGWB). For this reason, we determine the statistical significance of the PBHB contributions in the number of resolvable events seen in future Earth-based detectors and the SGWB measured at LISA. We quantify them in the limit that SOBHB population uncertainties are small, as one may optimistically expect at the time that future detectors will operate. In general, we find the synergy between these probes will consistently help assess whether or not a sizeable PBHB population is present.