Constraining dark-sector effects using gravitational waves from binary inspirals

The nature of dark matter is one of the most important questions in modern physics. While there is overwhelming evidence for the existence of dark matter in our Universe, we have yet to detect it directly. Observations of the gravitational waves produced by compact binaries provide a novel probe of the dark matter through its self-interactions. In this talk, we will consider a model where dark matter carries charge under a dark abelian massive vector field. If such dark matter is bound inside coalescing neutron stars, the presence of the new force will modify the total energy of the binary, and the emission of dark radiation modes will impact the rate of inspiral. We will present a model accurate to first post-Newtonian order, including dark magnetic and electric effects. We then implement this model in a Bayesian analysis to place new, stringent constraints on this class of dark matter model using the neutron star binary inspirals observed by the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra Collaboration.