The possibility that Dark Matter (DM) is partially or totally constituted by stable Planckian remnants of light Primordial Black Holes (PBHs), suggested for instance by Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), is investigated. Distinct phenomenological regimes are identified, including scenarios that trigger an early matter-dominated epoch. New constraints are derived on the initial PBH and final remnant abundances. We show that a significant initial abundance of PBHs lighter than 10^3 kg would overproduce Planckian relics, implying that any observational evidence for such PBHs would challenge models with quasi-stable remnants. Conversely, the products of Hawking radiation from PBHs with masses between 10^3 and 10^12 kg impose that Planckian relics could only be a highly subdominant DM component. We identify a PBH mass around 10^3 kg for which Hawking evaporation naturally reheats the Universe while the remnants entirely constitute the present-day DM. Such a scenario does not require fine-tuning the initial abundance of PBH of this mass, which could range from 10^-10 to order one. These early-Universe cosmologies yield distinct observational signatures: scalar-induced gravitational waves sourced by primordial or Poisson fluctuations that are amplified by the early PBH-dominated era. Current and future observations of LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA, the Einstein Telescope and LISA, as well as probes of the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, can be used to probe and constrain the initial PBH abundance and the present-day abundance of Planckian relics.

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are possible sources of a gravitational-wave background (GWB), detectable with the next observing runs of LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA. In case of a detection, it will be crucial to distinguish the possible sources of this GWB. One under-explored possibility is to exploit the duty cycle that quantifies the number of sources present in the time domain signal, which can be very different depending on the nature and population of the sources. We compute the duty cycle for a realistic population of PBH binaries, isolating the shot-noise, popcorn and continuous contributions to the GWB. We identify the dependence of the duty cycle on the signal frequency, duration and amplitude as a crucial metric for distinguishing PBHs from other sources in the GWB and constraining PBH models. Our work motivates the development of specific analysis tools to extract these observables, in order to unlock new cosmological insights with upcoming GW data.

Context. The Euclid mission of the European Space Agency will deliver weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering surveys that can be used to constrain the standard cosmological model and extensions thereof. Aims. We present forecasts from the combination of the Euclid photometric galaxy surveys (weak lensing, galaxy clustering, and their crosscorrelations) and its spectroscopic redshift survey with respect to their sensitivity to cosmological parameters. We include the summed neutrino mass, Sigma m (v), and the e ffective number of relativistic species, N-e ff, in the standard Lambda alpha CDM scenario and in the dynamical dark energy (w (0) w(alpha)CDM) scenario. Methods. We compared the accuracy of di fferent algorithms predicting the non-linear matter power spectrum for such models. We then validated several pipelines for Fisher matrix and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) forecasts, using di fferent theory codes, algorithms for numerical derivatives, and assumptions on the non-linear cut-o ff scale. Results. The Euclid primary probes alone will reach a sensitivity of sigma(Sigma m (v) = 60 meV) = 56 meV in the Lambda CDM +Sigma m (v) model, whereas the combination with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from Planck is expected to achieve sigma(Sigma m (v)) = 23 meV, o ffering evidence of a non-zero neutrino mass to at least the 2:6 sigma level. This could be pushed to a 4 sigma detection if future CMB data from LiteBIRD and CMB Stage-IV were included. In combination with Planck, Euclid will also deliver tight constraints on Delta N-e ff < 0:144 (95%CL) in the Lambda CDM +Sigma m (v)+N-e ff model or even Delta N-e ff < 0:063 when future CMB data are included. When floating the dark energy parameters, we find that the sensitivity to Ne ff remains stable, but for Sigma m (v), it gets degraded by up to a factor of 2, at most. Conclusions. This work illustrates the complementarity among the Euclid spectroscopic and photometric surveys and among Euclid and CMB constraints. Euclid will o ffer great potential in measuring the neutrino mass and excluding well-motivated scenarios with additional relativistic particles.

We present the results of a search for gravitational-wave transients associated with core-collapse supernova SN 2023ixf, which was observed in the galaxy Messier 101 via optical emission on 2023 May 19, during the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA 15th Engineering Run. We define a five-day on-source window during which an accompanying gravitational-wave signal may have occurred. No gravitational waves have been identified in data when at least two gravitational-wave observatories were operating, which covered ∼14% of this five-day window. We report the search detection efficiency for various possible gravitational-wave emission models. Considering the distance to M101 (6.7 Mpc), we derive constraints on the gravitational-wave emission mechanism of core-collapse supernovae across a broad frequency spectrum, ranging from 50 Hz to 2 kHz, where we assume the gravitational-wave emission occurred when coincident data are available in the on-source window. Considering an ellipsoid model for a rotating proto-neutron star, our search is sensitive to gravitational-wave energy 1 × 10 −4 M ⊙ c 2 and luminosity 2.6 × 10 −4 M ⊙ c 2 s −1 for a source emitting at 82 Hz. These constraints are around an order of magnitude more stringent than those obtained so far with gravitational-wave data. The constraint on the ellipticity of the proto-neutron star that is formed is as low as 1.08, at frequencies above 1200 Hz, surpassing past results.

Continuous gravitational waves (CWs) emission from neutron stars carries information about their internal structure and equation of state, and it can provide tests of General Relativity. We present a search for CWs from a set of 45 known pulsars in the first part of the fourth LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA observing run, known as O4a. We conducted a targeted search for each pulsar using three independent analysis methods considering the single-harmonic and the dual-harmonic emission models. We find no evidence of a CW signal in O4a data for both models and set upper limits on the signal amplitude and on the ellipticity, which quantifies the asymmetry in the neutron star mass distribution. For the single-harmonic emission model, 29 targets have the upper limit on the amplitude below the theoretical spin-down limit. The lowest upper limit on the amplitude is $6.4\!\times\!10^{-27}$ for the young energetic pulsar J0537-6910, while the lowest constraint on the ellipticity is $8.8\!\times\!10^{-9}$ for the bright nearby millisecond pulsar J0437-4715. Additionally, for a subset of 16 targets we performed a narrowband search that is more robust regarding the emission model, with no evidence of a signal. We also found no evidence of non-standard polarizations as predicted by the Brans-Dicke theory.

The current standard model of cosmology successfully describes a variety of measurements, but the nature of its main ingredients, dark matter and dark energy, remains unknown. Euclid is a medium-class mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) that will provide high-resolution optical imaging, as well as near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy, over about 14,000 deg^2 of extragalactic sky. In addition to accurate weak lensing and clustering measurements that probe structure formation over half of the age of the Universe, its primary probes for cosmology, these exquisite data will enable a wide range of science. This paper provides a high-level overview of the mission, summarising the survey characteristics, the various data-processing steps, and data products. We also highlight the main science objectives and expected performance.

In the recent years, primordial black holes (PBHs) have emerged as one of the most interesting and hotly debated topics in cosmology. Among other possibilities, PBHs could explain both some of the signals from binary black hole mergers observed in gravitational wave detectors and an important component of the dark matter in the Universe. Significant progress has been achieved both on the theory side and from the point of view of observations, including new models and more accurate calculations of PBH formation, evolution, clustering, merger rates, as well as new astrophysical and cosmological probes. In this work, we review, analyse and combine the latest developments in order to perform end-to-end calculations of the various gravitational wave signatures of PBHs. Different ways to distinguish PBHs from stellar black holes are emphasized. Finally, we discuss their detectability with LISA, the first planned gravitational-wave observatory in space.

Using the cross-correlation data from the first three observing runs of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration, we search for a gravitational-wave background (GWB) from primordial black holes, arising from the superposition of compact binary coalescence events. We consider both early and late binary formation mechanisms and perform Bayesian parameter inference. From the non-detection of the GWB, we provide constraints on the fraction of primordial black holes contributing to the present dark matter energy density.

The ever-increasing number of detections of gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binaries by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors allows us to perform ever-more sensitive tests of general relativity (GR) in the dynamical and strong-field regime of gravity. We perform a suite of tests of GR using the compact binary signals observed during the second half of the third observing run of those detectors. We restrict our analysis to the 15 confident signals that have false alarm rates $\leq 10^{-3}\, {\rm yr}^{-1}$. In addition to signals consistent with binary black hole (BH) mergers, the new events include GW200115_042309, a signal consistent with a neutron star--BH merger. We find the residual power, after subtracting the best fit waveform from the data for each event, to be consistent with the detector noise. Additionally, we find all the post-Newtonian deformation coefficients to be consistent with the predictions from GR, with an improvement by a factor of ~2 in the -1PN parameter. We also find that the spin-induced quadrupole moments of the binary BH constituents are consistent with those of Kerr BHs in GR. We find no evidence for dispersion of GWs, non-GR modes of polarization, or post-merger echoes in the events that were analyzed. We update the bound on the mass of the graviton, at 90% credibility, to $m_g \leq 1.27 \times 10^{-23} \mathrm{eV}/c^2$. The final mass and final spin as inferred from the pre-merger and post-merger parts of the waveform are consistent with each other. The studies of the properties of the remnant BHs, including deviations of the quasi-normal mode frequencies and damping times, show consistency with the predictions of GR. In addition to considering signals individually, we also combine results from the catalog of GW signals to calculate more precise population constraints. We find no evidence in support of physics beyond GR.

We show that the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and gravimeters on Earth and in space can potentially offer the most accurate direct measurement of local density of near-Earth asteroid-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) and dark matter (DM) clumps in the Solar System by means of gravitational influence. Using semianalytical methods and Monte Carlo simulation, this paper revisits the analysis of the trajectories of DM clumps in the Solar System, including both captured objects and hyperbolic trajectories. A link is thus made between the frequency and distance of Earth overflights for a given mass flux, and a direct measure of dark matter clump density in the Solar System. We then model the signature of a close fly-by of a DM object on orbital data from GNSS satellites and gravity measurements from gravimeters. We thus obtain a first assessment of the single probe sensitivity. It paves the way for an exhaustive statistical analysis of 28 years of gravimeters and GNSS data to obtain observational constraints on the density of the PBHs and DM clumps within the Solar System, for the mass range [10(8)-10(17)] kg. In addition, our methodology offers a possibility of direct detection in cases where DM clumps are endowed with an additional long-range clump-matter fifth force beyond gravity.

We investigate a mechanism of primordial black hole (PBH) formation that avoids any dependence on specific inflationary features or exotic physics. In this scenario, the required large curvature fluctuations leading to PBH formation are generated after inflation by the quantum fluctuations of a light stochastic spectator field during inflation, when this field transiently dominates the energy density. We calculate the dynamics of such a spectator field during and after inflation, the distribution of induced curvature perturbations and their non-Gaussian tails leading to the copious production of PBHs. For a plateau-like potential, this scenario produces an extended PBH mass distribution with a peak at the solar-mass scale when one takes into account the effects of the thermal history. What is remarkable in this scenario is the absence of parameter fine-tuning. Instead, it invokes an anthropic selection over all the realizations of PBH abundances predicted by the field stochasticity. This scenario offers a novel perspective for the formation of PBHs with minimal ingredients and without the need of fine-tuning. It is amenable to observational tests, notably with the gravitational-wave observations of black hole mergers and of a background at nanoHertz frequency, as recently observed by pulsar timing arrays.

We present Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT) searches for gamma-ray/X-ray counterparts to gravitational wave (GW) candidate events identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Using Fermi-GBM on-board triggers and sub-threshold gamma-ray burst (GRB) candidates found in the Fermi-GBM ground analyses, the Targeted Search and the Untargeted Search, we investigate whether there are any coincident GRBs associated with the GWs. We also search the Swift-BAT rate data around the GW times to determine whether a GRB counterpart is present. No counterparts are found. Using both the Fermi-GBM Targeted Search and the Swift-BAT search, we calculate flux upper limits and present joint upper limits on the gamma-ray luminosity of each GW. Given these limits, we constrain theoretical models for the emission of gamma-rays from binary black hole mergers.

A follow-up of a subsolar black hole candidate identified in the second part of the third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration is carried out. With a search signal-to-noise ratio of $8.90$ and a false-alarm rate of 1 per 5 years, close to the usual thresholds for claiming a gravitational-wave event, we cannot exclude a noise origin. A complete Bayesian parameter estimation of this candidate, denoted SSM200308, reveals that if the signal originates from a compact binary coalescence, the component masses are $m_1= 0.62^{+0.46}_{-0.20} M_{\odot}$ and $m_2 = 0.27^{+0.12}_{-0.10} M_{\odot}$ (90% credible intervals) with at least one component being firmly subsolar, below the minimum mass of a neutron star. This discards the hypothesis that the signal comes from a standard binary neutron star. The signal coherence test between the two LIGO detectors brings support to a compact object coalescence origin.

In this proceedings, we study the possible gravitational impact of primordial black holes (PBHs) or dark matter (DM) clumps on GNSS satellite orbits and gravimeter measurements. It provides a preliminary step to the future exhaustive statistical analysis over 28 years of gravimeter and GNSS data to get constraints over the density of asteroid-mass PBH and DM clumps inside the solar system. Such constraints would be the first to be obtained by direct observation on a terrestrial scale.

We propose a novel mechanism of electroweak baryogenesis based on the standard model only and explaining the coincidence between the baryon and dark matter densities in the Universe, as well as the observed value of the baryon-to-photon ratio. In our scenario, large curvature fluctuations slightly below the threshold for Primordial Black Hole (PBH) formation locally reheat the plasma above the sphaleron barrier when they collapse gravitationally but without forming a black hole. This rapid process can lead to a maximal baryogenesis in those regions at the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) epoch at thermal temperatures between 20 MeV and 50 MeV. Compared to another mechanism relying on shock waves associated to the formation of PBHs, our mechanism instead applies to aborted PBHs. Using simulations in numerical relativity, we calculate the overdensity threshold for baryogenesis and show that the baryon-to-photon ratio is generically between two and three times larger than the relative abundance of PBHs formed at those temperatures. Finally, we show that PBH formation models at the QCD epoch leading to an abundance comparable to the dark matter could have generated a baryon density and an averaged baryon-to-photon ratio consistent with observations.

We investigate the viability of primordial black hole (PBH) formation in the Standard Model (SM) in a scenario that does not rely on specific inflationary features or any exotic physics such as phase transitions or non-minimal coupling to gravity. If the Brout-Englert-Higgs (BEH) field lies exactly at the transition between metastability and stability, its potential exhibits an inflexion point due to radiative corrections. The BEH can act like a stochastic curvaton field, leading to a non-Gaussian tail of large curvature fluctuations that later collapse into PBHs when they re-enter inside the horizon. This scenario would require a precise value of the top-quark mas to ensure the Higgs stability, which is disfavored but still consistent with the most recent measurements. However, we also find that large curvature fluctuations are also generated on cosmological scales that are inconsistent with cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. We therefore conclude that the SM cannot have led to the formation of PBHs based on this mechanism. Nevertheless, a variation of the scenario based on the Palatini formulation of gravity may have provided the conditions to produce stellar-mass PBHs with an abundance comparable to dark matter, without producing too large curvature fluctuations on cosmological scales.

The magnetar SGR 1935+2154 is the only known Galactic source of fast radio bursts (FRBs). FRBs from SGR 1935+2154 were first detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/FRB and the Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 in 2020 April, after the conclusion of the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations' O3 observing run. Here, we analyze four periods of gravitational wave (GW) data from the GEO600 detector coincident with four periods of FRB activity detected by CHIME/FRB, as well as X-ray glitches and X-ray bursts detected by NICER and NuSTAR close to the time of one of the FRBs. We do not detect any significant GW emission from any of the events. Instead, using a short-duration GW search (for bursts <= 1 s) we derive 50% (90%) upper limits of 10(48) (10(49)) erg for GWs at 300 Hz and 10(49) (10(50)) erg at 2 kHz, and constrain the GW-to-radio energy ratio to <= 10(14)-10(16). We also derive upper limits from a long-duration search for bursts with durations between 1 and 10 s. These represent the strictest upper limits on concurrent GW emission from FRBs.

Gravitational waves from subsolar mass inspiraling compact objects would provide almost smoking-gun evidence for primordial black holes (PBHs). We perform the first search for inspiraling planetary-mass compact objects in equal-mass and highly asymmetric mass-ratio binaries using data from the first half of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA third observing run. Though we do not find any significant candidates, we determine the maximum luminosity distance reachable with our search to be of O(0.1-100)  kpc, and corresponding model-independent upper limits on the merger rate densities to be O(10^{3}-10^{-7})  kpc^{-3} yr^{-1} for systems with chirp masses of O(10^{-4}-10^{-2})M_{⊙}, respectively. Furthermore, we interpret these rate densities as arising from PBH binaries and constrain the fraction of dark matter that such objects could comprise. For equal-mass PBH binaries, we find that these objects would compose less than 4%-100% of DM for PBH masses of 10^{-2}M_{⊙} to 2×10^{-3}M_{⊙}, respectively. For asymmetric binaries, assuming one black hole mass corresponds to a peak in the mass function at 2.5M_{⊙}, a PBH dark-matter fraction of 10% and a second, much lighter PBH, we constrain the mass function of the second PBH to be less than 1 for masses between 1.5×10^{-5}M_{⊙} and 2×10^{-4}M_{⊙}. Our constraints, recently released, are robust enough to be applied to any PBH or exotic compact object binary formation models, and complement existence microlensing results.

Magnetars are neutron stars with exceptionally strong dipole magnetic fields which are observed to display a range of x-ray flaring behavior, but the flaring mechanism is not well understood. The third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo extended from April 1, 2019 to March 27, 2020, and contained x-ray flares from known magnetar SGR 1935+2154, as well as the newly-discovered magnetar, Swift J1818-1607. We search for gravitational waves coincident with these magnetar flares with minimally modeled, coherent searches which specifically target both short-duration gravitational waves produced by excited f-modes in the magnetar's core, as well as long-duration gravitational waves motivated by the Quasi-Periodic Oscillations observed in the tails of giant flares. In this paper, we report on the methods and sensitivity estimates of these searches, and the astrophysical implications.