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    Probing primordial black holes with the distortion of stochastic gravitational wave background

    Mingqi Sun, Kai Liao*, and Xi-Long Fan†

    • *Contact author: liaokai@whu.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: xilong.fan@whu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. D 113, 023056 – Published 29 January, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r1ph-zl9x

    Abstract

    The stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB), arising from the incoherent superposition of numerous compact binary coalescences, serves as a powerful probe of both astrophysical populations and fundamental physics. In this work, we investigate the influence of gravitational lensing on the SGWB, focusing on primordial black holes (PBHs) as potential lenses. Assuming PBHs to be dark matter candidates with a broad cosmic distribution, we show that their lensing optical depth can be significantly enhanced, producing pronounced effects with relative deviations at the 10−1 level. By systematically varying the PBH mass MPBH and abundance fPBH, we demonstrate that the mass predominantly determines the frequency-dependent diffraction features of the spectrum, while the abundance primarily amplifies the overall lensing-induced deviation. Although the SGWB from binary black holes has yet to be observed, our analytical results provide theoretical insight into the possible imprint of lensing on its spectrum and suggest that future detections could offer a novel avenue to constrain dark matter scenarios.

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