Dark matter-induced low-mass gap black hole echoing LVK observations

Abstract The recent detection of gravitational waves from a binary merger involving a potential low-mass gap black hole (LMBH) by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration motivates investigations into mechanisms beyond conventional stellar evolution theories to account for their existence. We study a mechanism in which dark matter (DM), through its capture and accumulation inside main sequence stars, induces the formation of black holes within the mass range of [3, 5] M ⊙ . We examine the distribution of these LMBHs as a function of galaxy halo mass, particularly when paired with neutron stars. This gives a distinct signature that can be tested with future gravitational wave observations. We find that a viable portion of the DM parameter space predicts a merger rate of such binaries consistent with LVK observations.