Probing the Nature of Dark Matter Self-interactions through Observations of Massive Black Hole Mergers

Abstract Though the nature of dark matter remains elusive, two models have come to prominence with testable predictions: cold dark matter (CDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). While CDM remains the widely accepted model, SIDM was introduced to potentially help resolve the discrepancies between the predictions of the CDM model and observational data, in particular, the predicted central density profiles. Previous work involving simulations of small numbers of Milky Way–mass galaxies shows that SIDM with a constant cross section of 1 cm 2 g −1 delays massive black hole (MBH) mergers as compared to CDM when the host halo has a flattened central density profile. In this work, we use mock gravitational-wave observations of MBH mergers to test LISA’s capability to indirectly probe dark matter physics. As a proof of concept, we use zoom-in simulations of two galaxy evolutionary histories to show that LISA may be able to distinguish (with a p -value ≤0.05) between CDM and SIDM with a short-range interaction and a constant cross section of 1 cm 2 g −1 , provided at least ∼70 MBH mergers are observed with signal-to-noise ratios greater than 10. Given our small sample size, this should be regarded as illustrative, rather than definitive. We emphasize that our work does not consider more realistic models with a velocity-dependent cross section, though our exploratory work shows that LISA may provide a pathway to probe dark matter self-interactions, motivating future work with more realistic, currently favored models and larger simulation suites.