ABSTRACT
The existence of scalar fields can be probed by observations of stochastic gravitational waves. Scalar fields mediate attractive forces, usually stronger than gravity, on the length scales shorter than their Compton wavelengths, which can be non-negligible in the early Universe, when the horizon size is small. These attractive forces exhibit an instability similar to the gravitational instability, only stronger. They can, therefore, lead to the growth of structures in some species. We identify a gravitational waves signature of such processes and show that it can be detected by future gravitational waves experiments.
ABSTRACT
We describe a new scenario for the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs). In the early Universe, the long-range forces mediated by the scalar fields can lead to formation of halos of heavy particles even during the radiation-dominated era. The same interactions result in the emission of scalar radiation from the motion and close encounters of particles in such halos. Radiative cooling due the scalar radiation allows the halos to collapse to black holes. We illustrate this scenario on a simple model with fermions interacting via the Yukawa forces. The abundance and the mass function of PBHs are suitable to account for all dark matter, or for some gravitational wave events detected by LIGO. The model relates the mass of the dark-sector particles to the masses and abundance of dark matter PBHs in a way that can explain why the dark matter and the ordinary matter have similar mass densities. The model also predicts a small contribution to the number of effective light degrees of freedom, which can help reconcile different measurements of the Hubble constant.
