Quasi-circular inspiral of binary black holes in wave dark matter clouds

Through the processes of accretion and superradiant instability, wave-like dark matter candidates such as ultralight axions can form a cloud of condensates around black holes. The dynamics of a binary black hole under the influence of such a cloud can be altered when the cloud is sufficiently dense, leading to the generation of orbital eccentricity and phase shifts in the gravitational wave signal. We perform numerical relativity simulations of the binary system in an overdensity of such a cloud modelled by a massive, complex scalar field. In particular, we investigate the impact of the scalar field mass on eccentricity-corrected quasi-circular binaries, and the implications on environmental effects for waveform modelling.