Domain wall interpretation of the PTA signal confronting black hole overproduction

Abstract

Recently, Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) collaborations have detected a stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) at nano-Hz frequencies, with Domain Wall networks (DWs) proposed as potential sources. To be cosmologically viable, they must annihilate before dominating the universe energy budget, thus generating a SGWB. While sub-horizon DWs shrink and decay rapidly, causality requires DWs with super-horizon size to continue growing until they reach the Hubble horizon. Those entering the latest can be heavier than a Hubble patch and collapse into Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). We conduct a Bayesian analysis of the PTA signal, interpreting it as an outcome of SGWB from DW networks, with a prior ensuring no PBH overproduction. Our findings indicate that DWs result in the production of solar-mass PBHs. The binary mergers occurring within these PBHs generate a second SGWB in the kilo-Hz domain which could be observable in on-going or planned Earth-based interferometers.

Comments: v2: Major improvements of the PBH formation modeling, of the depth of the Bayesian analysis and of the SMBH binary prior, v3: Matches published version (5 pages, 4 figures + appendix, 22 pages in total)