Gravitational-Wave Induced Freeze-In of Fermionic Dark Matter
Abstract
The minimal coupling of massless fermions to gravity does not allow for their gravitational production solely based on the expansion of the Universe. We argue that this changes in the presence of realistic and potentially detectable stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds. We compute the resulting energy density of Weyl fermions at 1-loop using in-in formalism. If the initially massless fermions eventually acquire mass, this mechanism can explain the dark matter abundance in the Universe. Remarkably, it may be more efficient than conventional gravitational production of superheavy fermions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 136
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 131501–131501
- Publication date
- 26 January 2026
- Language
- EN