Is it a primordial black hole or dark matter? – Scientific news

A quartz detector designed to detect high-frequency gravitational waves recorded two specific events that were never identified, a statement on the University of Western Australia website states. And at this particular university, researchers at the ARC Center of Excellence for Dark Particle Physics (CDM) have been working with the new gravitational wave detector for several months.

Two events can be gravitational waves

During this time, the researchers identified two events that could be high-frequency gravitational waves, likely emanating from a primordial black hole.
Researchers don’t know for sure where these gravitational waves come from, but in the meantime they have published a new study describing these first and intriguing findings in the journal. physical review messages.

gravitational waves

Einstein predicted gravitational waves in the last century but only in 2015 was the first real discovery made. Since the discovery of the first gravitational waves, there has been talk of a new field of astronomical research, right up to a new era of astronomy. However, the gravitational waves detected so far are low-frequency waves, often emitted by black holes that rotate very quickly, eventually merging or from the merger of a star and a black hole.
In fact, the current generation of gravitational wave detectors is very sensitive to low frequency signals but less sensitive to high frequency signals.

What are primordial black holes?

So a completely unexplored front was created composed of low-frequency gravitational waves which, according to many researchers, are just as important. For example, high-frequency gravitational waves are likely to be emitted by primordial black holes.
These are black holes that must have formed in the first moments after the Big Bang and therefore not from the collapse of a star. It is believed that they formed as a result of complex phenomena of fluctuations in the density of matter in local areas.

How is the new gravitational wave detector made

With the new detector, which works with a quartz crystal disk, it is possible to detect a high-frequency gravitational wave by analyzing the sound waves. The latter, in fact, leads to a very sensitive physical charge in the device. The latter, in turn, is connected to a quantum interference device, a superconductor also known as a SQUID that amplifies the signal and makes it analysable.

The signal can be emitted from dark matter

The researchers admit they can’t be sure if they are gravitational waves: the signals could be caused by charged particles, mechanical stress buildup, a weather event, or an unidentifiable internal atomic process.
It may also be a dark substance that reacts with the reagent. Anyway, these are exciting results, explains William Campbell, one of the research team members.

Only two high frequency gravitational wave detectors are currently

“Through this work, we have shown for the first time that these devices can be used as highly sensitive gravitational wave detectors. This experiment is one of only two currently active in the world that searches for high-frequency gravitational waves at these frequencies and we have plans to extend our reach to these frequencies higher, where no other experiment has looked before,” the researcher explains.

Notes and insights

1. Phys. Reverend Litt. 127, 071102 (2021) – rare events detected with a high-frequency gravitational wave antenna with a massive sonic wave (he is) (DOI: /10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.071102)

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