The mass-distribution of LIGO's events as a probe for dark matter

Primordial black holes (PBHs) may contribute to the observed abundance of dark matter. We use the black-hole mass distribution obtained from the detected binary black hole merger events by the LIGO/VIRGO gravitational-wave observatories, to search for and place limits on PBHs in the stellar-mass range. In using the LIGO/VIRGO observations, we obtain the black-hole mass distribution by associating a skewed normal distribution to each detected event with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) > 8, summing all distributions. We then simulate binary black holes following models of formation of two separate populations of merging binaries: stellar-origin binary black holes and PBH binaries. For those we calculate the signal to noise ratio that would result on the LIGO detectors. Selecting only simulated merger events with a SNR>8, we fit the combination of these two components to the LIGO/VIRGO data. In our work, we rely on a wide range of black-hole mass distributions expected from models of formation of stellar-origin black holes and of PBHs.