{
  "abstract": "Dense dark matter spikes around massive black holes (MBHs) have been widely predicted to produce gravitational-wave dephasing in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) that are potentially observable by LISA. We show that EMRIs, the very objects used to probe these spikes, also destroy them. Combining Fokker-Planck models of nuclear star clusters with post-Newtonian three-body simulations of EMRI-dark matter encounters, we demonstrate that repeated gravitational slingshots irreversibly eject dark matter particles from the cluster's loss cone over gigayear time-scales. For MBHs at $z = 3$ with masses $\\lesssim 10^5 \\,M_\\odot$, even conservative EMRI rates of $\\mathcal{O}(1-10) \\, \\mathrm{Gyr}^{-1}$ suffice to deplete the spike density by orders of magnitude; for more realistic rates of $\\mathcal{O}(100-300) \\, \\mathrm{Gyr}^{-1}$, the mass range extends to $\\lesssim 10^6 \\,M_\\odot$. As a result, the gravitational-wave dephasing expected from such systems is greatly reduced, narrowing the prospects of detecting DM through this channel. Only heavy, high-redshift systems with sufficiently low EMRI rates -- for example, a $\\sim 10^6 \\,M_\\odot$ MBH at $z \\gtrsim 5$ with $\\lesssim 100$ EMRIs per Gyr -- can induce dephasing that exceeds one radian.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.37234",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Charlie Sharpe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yonadav Barry Ginat"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas F. M. Spieksma"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexander Heger"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bence Kocsis"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9as61tyvbpfpw.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.37234",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9as61tyvbpfpw",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37234",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.CO"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.GA"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.HE"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214921761",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.37234",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9as61tyvbpfpw.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:31Z",
      "native_id": "2609.37234",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37234"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.CO",
      "subfield": "cosmology"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.GA",
      "subfield": "galaxies"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.HE",
      "subfield": "high-energy-astrophysics"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Irreversible Depletion of Dark Matter Spikes by Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals",
  "title_text": "The Irreversible Depletion of Dark Matter Spikes by Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:31Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9as61tyvbpfpw",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}