Search for subsolar-mass binaries in the first half of advanced LIGO's and advanced virgo's third observing run

Abbott, B. P. and Angelova, S. V. and Birney, R. and Macfoy, S. and Reid, S. and Ben Yaala, Marwa, LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration (2022) Search for subsolar-mass binaries in the first half of advanced LIGO's and advanced virgo's third observing run. Physical Review Letters, 129 (6). 061104. ISSN 1079-7114 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.061104)

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Abstract

We report on a search for compact binary coalescences where at least one binary component has a mass between 0.2  M⊙ and 1.0  M⊙ in Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo data collected between 1 April 2019 1500 UTC and 1 October 2019 1500 UTC. We extend our previous analyses in two main ways: we include data from the Virgo detector and we allow for more unequal mass systems, with mass ratio q≥0.1. We do not report any gravitational-wave candidates. The most significant trigger has a false alarm rate of 0.14  yr−1. This implies an upper limit on the merger rate of subsolar binaries in the range [220−24200]  Gpc−3 yr−1, depending on the chirp mass of the binary. We use this upper limit to derive astrophysical constraints on two phenomenological models that could produce subsolar-mass compact objects. One is an isotropic distribution of equal-mass primordial black holes. Using this model, we find that the fraction of dark matter in primordial black holes in the mass range 0.2  M⊙

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