Prospects of discovering subsolar primordial black holes using the stochastic gravitational wave background from third-generation detectors

Abstract

ABSTRACT Primordial black holes (PBHs) are dark matter candidates that span broad mass ranges from 10−17 M⊙ to ∼100 M⊙. We show that the stochastic gravitational wave background can be a powerful window for the detection of subsolar mass PBHs and shed light on their formation channel via third-generation gravitational wave detectors such as Cosmic Explorer and the Einstein Telescope. By using the mass distribution of the compact objects and the redshift evolution of the merger rates, we can distinguish astrophysical sources from PBHs and will be able to constrain the fraction of subsolar mass PBHs ≤1 M⊙ in the form of dark matter $f_\mathrm{PBH}\le 1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ at $68{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ C.L. even for a pessimistic value of a binary suppression factor. In the absence of any suppression of the merger rate, constraints on fPBH will be less than $0.001{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. Furthermore, we will be able to measure the redshift evolution of the PBH merger rate with about $1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ accuracy, making it possible to uniquely distinguish between the Poisson and clustered PBH scenarios.