GW190521 as a Merger of Proca Stars: A Potential New Vector Boson of 8.7 x 10-13 eV

Advanced LIGO-Virgo have reported a short gravitational-wave signal (GW190521) interpreted as a quasicircular merger of black holes, one at least populating the pair-instability supernova gap, that formed a remnant black hole of M-f similar to 142 M-circle dot at a luminosity distance of d(L) similar to 5.3 Gpc. With barely visible premerger emission, however, GW190521 merits further investigation of the pre-merger dynamics and even of the very nature of the colliding objects. We show that GW190521 is consistent with numerically simulated signals from head-on collisions of two (equal mass and spin) horizonless vector boson stars (aka Proca stars), forming a final black hole with Mf = 231(-17)(+13) M-circle dot, located at a distance of d(L) = 571(-181)(+348) Mpc. This provides the first demonstration of close degeneracy between these two theoretical models, for a real gravitational-wave event. The favored mass for the ultralight vector boson constituent of the Proca stars is mu V = 8.72(-0.82)(+0.73) x 10(-13) eV. Confirmation of the Proca star interpretation, which we find statistically slightly preferred, would provide the first evidence for a long sought dark matter particle.

Automated summary

GW190521 is a short gravitational-wave signal interpreted as a quasicircular merger of black holes, forming a remnant black hole with a mass of about 142 solar masses. Despite the lack of visible premerger emission, further investigation is needed to understand the pre-merger dynamics and nature of the colliding objects.