Search for Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of Subsolar Mass and Eccentric Compact Binaries

Abstract

Abstract We present a search for gravitational waves from subsolar mass compact-binary mergers that allows for nonnegligible orbital eccentricity. Subsolar mass black holes are a signature of primordial origin black holes, which may be a component of dark matter. To produce binary coalescences, primordial black holes may form close binaries either in the early universe or more recently through dynamical interactions. A signature of dynamical formation would be the observation of noncircularized orbits. We search for black hole mergers where the primary mass is 0.1–7M ⊙ and the secondary mass is 0.1–1M ⊙. We allow for eccentricity up to ∼0.3 at a dominant-mode gravitational-wave frequency of 10 Hz for binaries with component masses >0.5M ⊙. We find no convincing candidates in the public LIGO data from 2015–2017. The two most promising candidates have a false alarm rate of 1 per 3 and 4 yr, respectively, which combined is only a ∼2.4σ deviation from the expected Poisson rate. Given the marginal statistical significance, we place upper limits on the rate of subsolar mass mergers under the assumption of a null observation and compare how these limits may inform the possible dark matter contribution.