Probing dark sector with decihertz gravitational wave observations of compact binary inspirals in IndIGO-D
Abstract
We investigate the potential of decihertz gravitational-wave (GW) observations of compact-binary inspirals to probe atomic dark matter (aDM) and its interactions through an ultralight massive dark photon. We consider a scenario in which neutron stars accumulate DM charged under a dark Abelian massive vector mediator, leading to an additional long-range Yukawa interaction between compact objects and associated dipolar radiation. In this framework, the GW waveform acquires characteristic corrections parameterized by the Yukawa coupling strength α, the dipole-radiation parameter γ, and a parameter related to the mediator mass μ. These corrections include a leading −1 post-Newtonian dipole contribution and finite-mediator-mass effects. We relate the aDM corrections to existing parameterized tests of general relativity and perform Bayesian parameter-estimation analyses for simulated binary neutron star (BNS) and neutron star-black hole (NSBH) systems incorporating the modified binary inspiral in a proposed space-based decihertz detector, named IndIGO-D. For a GW170817-like BNS with nonzero aDM couplings chosen near current observational bounds, we find that the dark-photon rest energy can be inferred with a 90% credible uncertainty of O(10−20) eV, conditional on a detectable dark-sector contribution. Analyses with weaker dark-sector interactions (α≲ O(10−8)) show that the mediator mass remains unconstrained when both the Yukawa coupling and dipole-radiation contribution are negligible, but can be measured even for a negligible Yukawa coupling if the dipole-radiation contribution is sufficiently strong. Our results demonstrate that future decihertz GW observatories can serve as powerful laboratories for testing dark-sector physics and probing dark matter interactions in compact binaries through precision GW measurements.
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BibTeX
@misc{tahelyani2026probing,
title = {{Probing dark sector with decihertz gravitational wave observations of compact binary inspirals in IndIGO-D}},
author = {Divya Tahelyani and Abhishek Sharma and Anand S. Sengupta and Arpan Bhattacharyya},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.41473},
eprint = {2610.41473},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.41473},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Probing dark sector with decihertz gravitational wave observations of compact binary inspirals in IndIGO-D
AU - Divya Tahelyani
AU - Abhishek Sharma
AU - Anand S. Sengupta
AU - Arpan Bhattacharyya
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.41473
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.41473
AB - We investigate the potential of decihertz gravitational-wave (GW) observations of compact-binary inspirals to probe atomic dark matter (aDM) and its interactions through an ultralight massive dark photon. We consider a scenario in which neutron stars accumulate DM charged under a dark Abelian massive vector mediator, leading to an additional long-range Yukawa interaction between compact objects and associated dipolar radiation. In this framework, the GW waveform acquires characteristic corrections parameterized by the Yukawa coupling strength α, the dipole-radiation parameter γ, and a parameter related to the mediator mass μ. These corrections include a leading −1 post-Newtonian dipole contribution and finite-mediator-mass effects. We relate the aDM corrections to existing parameterized tests of general relativity and perform Bayesian parameter-estimation analyses for simulated binary neutron star (BNS) and neutron star-black hole (NSBH) systems incorporating the modified binary inspiral in a proposed space-based decihertz detector, named IndIGO-D. For a GW170817-like BNS with nonzero aDM couplings chosen near current observational bounds, we find that the dark-photon rest energy can be inferred with a 90% credible uncertainty of O(10^−20) eV, conditional on a detectable dark-sector contribution. Analyses with weaker dark-sector interactions (α≲ O(10^−8)) show that the mediator mass remains unconstrained when both the Yukawa coupling and dipole-radiation contribution are negligible, but can be measured even for a negligible Yukawa coupling if the dipole-radiation contribution is sufficiently strong. Our results demonstrate that future decihertz GW observatories can serve as powerful laboratories for testing dark-sector physics and probing dark matter interactions in compact binaries through precision GW measurements.
ER -