- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Dark-matter-independent orbital decay bounds on ultralight bosons from OJ287

Qianhang Ding1,*, Minxi He2,†, Volodymyr Takhistov3,4,5,6,‡, and Hui-Yu Zhu1,§

  • *Contact author: dingqh@ibs.re.kr
  • †Contact author: heminxi@ibs.re.kr
  • ‡Contact author: vtakhist@post.kek.jp
  • §Contact author: hzhuav@ibs.re.kr
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 112, 103051 – Published 26 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/y5qn-rvv1

Abstract

Ultralight bosons, predicted in scenarios beyond the Standard Model and viable dark matter (DM) candidates, can form superradiant clouds around spinning black holes influencing their dynamics. Using a century-long monitored OJ287 supermassive black hole binary we set first DM-independent, dynamical constraints on their masses μ=(8.5–22)×10−22  eV. These dynamical constraints, driven by boson cloud friction, are robust against DM-model uncertainties and offer a novel ultralight boson probe. We show that analogous superradiant dynamics across the cosmic population of supermassive black hole systems could help resolve final-parsec evolution stalling problem and imprint a detectable suppression and break in the gravitational wave background.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (79)

  1. R. D. Peccei and H. R. Quinn, CP conservation in the presence of instantons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 38, 1440 (1977).
  2. S. Weinberg, A new light boson?, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 223 (1978).
  3. F. Wilczek, Problem of strong P and T invariance in the presence of instantons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 279 (1978).
  4. A. Arvanitaki, S. Dimopoulos, S. Dubovsky, N. Kaloper, and J. March-Russell, String axiverse, Phys. Rev. D 81, 123530 (2010).
  5. M. S. Turner, Coherent scalar field oscillations in an expanding universe, Phys. Rev. D 28, 1243 (1983).
  6. W. H. Press, B. S. Ryden, and D. N. Spergel, Single mechanism for generating large scale structure and providing dark missing matter, Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 1084 (1990).
  7. S.-J. Sin, Late time cosmological phase transition and galactic halo as Bose liquid, Phys. Rev. D 50, 3650 (1994).
  8. W. Hu, R. Barkana, and A. Gruzinov, Cold and fuzzy dark matter, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1158 (2000).
  9. J. Goodman, Repulsive dark matter, New Astron. 5, 103 (2000).
  10. Y. Chikashige, R. N. Mohapatra, and R. D. Peccei, Are there real Goldstone bosons associated with broken lepton number?, Phys. Lett. 98B, 265 (1981).
  11. G. B. Gelmini and M. Roncadelli, Left-handed neutrino mass scale and spontaneously broken lepton number, Phys. Lett. 99B, 411 (1981).
  12. D. F. J. Kimball and K. van Bibber, eds., The Search for Ultralight Bosonic Dark Matter (Springer, New York, 2023).
  13. A. Arvanitaki and S. Dubovsky, Exploring the string axiverse with precision black hole physics, Phys. Rev. D 83, 044026 (2011).
  14. R. Brito, V. Cardoso, and P. Pani, Superradiance: New frontiers in black hole physics, Lect. Notes Phys. 906, 1 (2015).
  15. D. Baumann, H. S. Chia, J. Stout, and L. ter Haar, The spectra of gravitational atoms, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2019) 006.
  16. R. H. Dicke, Coherence in spontaneous radiation processes, Phys. Rev. 93, 99 (1954).
  17. H. Yoshino and H. Kodama, Gravitational radiation from an axion cloud around a black hole: Superradiant phase, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2014, 043E02 (2014).
  18. K. H. M. Chan and O. A. Hannuksela, Extracting ultralight boson properties from boson clouds around postmerger remnants, Phys. Rev. D 109, 023009 (2024).
  19. K. K. Y. Ng, S. Vitale, O. A. Hannuksela, and T. G. F. Li, Constraints on ultralight scalar bosons within black hole spin measurements from the LIGO-Virgo GWTC-2, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 151102 (2021).
  20. M. J. Stott, Ultralight bosonic field mass bounds from astrophysical black hole spin, arXiv:2009.07206.
  21. H. Davoudiasl and P. B. Denton, Ultralight boson dark matter and event horizon telescope observations of M87*, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 021102 (2019).
  22. D. Baumann, H. S. Chia, R. A. Porto, and J. Stout, Gravitational collider physics, Phys. Rev. D 101, 083019 (2020).
  23. Q. Ding, X. Tong, and Y. Wang, Gravitational collider physics via pulsar-black hole binaries, Astrophys. J. 908, 78 (2021).
  24. G. M. Tomaselli, T. F. M. Spieksma, and G. Bertone, Dynamical friction in gravitational atoms, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2023) 070.
  25. X. Li, J. Ren, and X.-L. Zhang, Probing boson clouds with supermassive black hole binaries, arXiv:2505.02866.
  26. A. K. Saha, P. Parashari, T. N. Maity, A. Dubey, S. Bouri, and R. Laha, Bounds on ultralight bosons from the Event Horizon Telescope observation of Sgr A*, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 901 (2024).
  27. D. Deb, A. Gopakumar, and M. J. Valtonen, On the evidence of a dark matter density spike around the primary black hole in OJ 287, Astrophys. J. Lett. 984, L66 (2025).
  28. A. Alachkar, J. Ellis, and M. Fairbairn, Dark matter constraints from the eccentric supermassive black hole binary OJ 287, Phys. Rev. D 107, 103033 (2023).
  29. M. H. Chan and C. M. Lee, The first robust evidence showing a dark matter density spike around the supermassive black hole in OJ 287, Astrophys. J. Lett. 962, L40 (2024).
  30. M. Baryakhtar, M. Galanis, R. Lasenby, and O. Simon, Black hole superradiance of self-interacting scalar fields, Phys. Rev. D 103, 095019 (2021).
  31. H. Omiya, T. Takahashi, T. Tanaka, and H. Yoshino, Impact of multiple modes on the evolution of self-interacting axion condensate around rotating black holes, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 06 (2023) 016.
  32. H. S. Chia, C. Doorman, A. Wernersson, T. Hinderer, and S. Nissanke, Self-interacting gravitational atoms in the strong-gravity regime, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 04 (2023) 018.
  33. N. Xie and F. P. Huang, The self-interaction effects on the Kerr black hole superradiance and their observational implications, Phys. Rev. D 112, 055028 (2025).
  34. G. Lambiase, T. K. Poddar, and L. Visinelli, Impact of the cosmic neutrino background on black hole superradiance, Phys. Rev. D 112, 016010 (2025).
  35. S. L. Detweiler, Klein-Gordon equation and rotating black holes, Phys. Rev. D 22, 2323 (1980).
  36. R. Brito, V. Cardoso, and P. Pani, Superradiance: Energy Extraction, Black-Hole Bombs and Implications for Astrophysics and Particle Physics (Springer, New York, Cham, 2015).
  37. E. Cannizzaro, L. Sberna, S. R. Green, and S. Hollands, Relativistic perturbation theory for black-hole boson clouds, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 051401 (2024).
  38. Y. Cao and Y. Tang, Signatures of ultralight bosons in compact binary inspiral and outspiral, Phys. Rev. D 108, 123017 (2023).
  39. L. Dey et al., Authenticating the presence of a relativistic massive black hole binary in OJ 287 using its general relativity centenary flare: Improved orbital parameters, Astrophys. J. 866, 11 (2018).
  40. M. J. Valtonen and H. J. Lehto, Outbursts in OJ 287: A new test for the general theory of relativity, Astrophys. J. 481, L5 (1997).
  41. M. Valtonen and P. Pihajoki, A helical jet model for OJ287, Astron. Astrophys. 557, A28 (2013).
  42. P. C. Peters, Gravitational radiation and the motion of two point masses, Phys. Rev. 136, B1224 (1964).
  43. M. J. Valtonen et al., Primary black hole spin in OJ287 as determined by the general relativity centenary flare, Astrophys. J. Lett. 819, L37 (2016).
  44. M. Volonteri, P. Madau, E. Quataert, and M. J. Rees, The distribution and cosmic evolution of massive black hole spins, Astrophys. J. 620, 69 (2005).
  45. L. Tsukada, T. Callister, A. Matas, and P. Meyers, First search for a stochastic gravitational-wave background from ultralight bosons, Phys. Rev. D 99, 103015 (2019).
  46. R. Brito, V. Cardoso, and P. Pani, Black holes as particle detectors: Evolution of superradiant instabilities, Classical Quantum Gravity 32, 134001 (2015).
  47. H. Yoshino and H. Kodama, Gravitational radiation from an axion cloud around a black hole: Superradiant phase, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2014, 043E02 (2014).
  48. T. Takahashi, H. Omiya, and T. Tanaka, Axion cloud evaporation during inspiral of black hole binaries: The effects of backreaction and radiation, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2022, 043E01 (2022).
  49. X. Tong, Y. Wang, and H.-Y. Zhu, Gravitational collider physics via pulsar–black hole binaries II: Fine and hyperfine structures are favored, Astrophys. J. 924, 99 (2022).
  50. T. Takahashi, H. Omiya, and T. Tanaka, Evolution of binary systems accompanying axion clouds in extreme mass ratio inspirals, Phys. Rev. D 107, 103020 (2023).
  51. D. Baumann, G. Bertone, J. Stout, and G. M. Tomaselli, Ionization of gravitational atoms, Phys. Rev. D 105, 115036 (2022).
  52. S. Chandrasekhar, Dynamical friction. I. General considerations: The coefficient of dynamical friction., Astrophys. J. 97, 255 (1943).
  53. L. Hui, J. P. Ostriker, S. Tremaine, and E. Witten, Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter, Phys. Rev. D 95, 043541 (2017).
  54. J. Zhang and H. Yang, Dynamic signatures of black hole binaries with superradiant clouds, Phys. Rev. D 101, 043020 (2020).
  55. M. Milosavljevic and D. Merritt, The final parsec problem, AIP Conf. Proc. 686, 201 (2003).
  56. G. Agazie et al. (NANOGrav Collaboration), The NANOGrav 15 yr data set: Evidence for a gravitational-wave background, Astrophys. J. Lett. 951, L8 (2023).
  57. J. Antoniadis et al. (EPTA, InPTA Collaborations), The second data release from the european pulsar timing array—III. Search for gravitational wave signals, Astron. Astrophys. 678, A50 (2023).
  58. A. Zic et al., The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array third data release, Pub. Astron. Soc. Aust. 40, e049 (2023).
  59. H. Xu et al., Searching for the Nano-Hertz stochastic gravitational wave background with the chinese pulsar timing array data release I, Res. Astron. Astrophys. 23, 075024 (2023).
  60. G. Agazie et al. (International Pulsar Timing Array Collaboration), Comparing recent pulsar timing array results on the nanohertz stochastic gravitational-wave background, Astrophys. J. 966, 105 (2024).
  61. G. Agazie et al. (NANOGrav Collaboration), The NANOGrav 15 yr data set: Constraints on supermassive black hole binaries from the gravitational-wave background, Astrophys. J. Lett. 952, L37 (2023).
  62. G. Alonso-Álvarez, J. M. Cline, and C. Dewar, Self-Interacting dark matter solves the final parsec problem of supermassive black hole mergers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 021401 (2024).
  63. R. Brito, S. Ghosh, E. Barausse, E. Berti, V. Cardoso, I. Dvorkin, A. Klein, and P. Pani, Stochastic and resolvable gravitational waves from ultralight bosons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 131101 (2017).
  64. J. Antoniadis et al. (EPTA, InPTA Collaborations), The second data release from the european pulsar timing array—IV. Implications for massive black holes, dark matter, and the early universe, Astron. Astrophys. 685, A94 (2024).
  65. D. J. Reardon et al., Search for an isotropic gravitational-wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array, Astrophys. J. Lett. 951, L6 (2023).
  66. M. Aghaie, G. Armando, A. Dondarini, and P. Panci, Bounds on ultralight dark matter from NANOGrav, Phys. Rev. D 109, 103030 (2024).
  67. S. A. Teukolsky, Perturbations of a rotating black hole. 1. Fundamental equations for gravitational electromagnetic and neutrino field perturbations, Astrophys. J. 185, 635 (1973).
  68. E. W. Leaver, An analytic representation for the quasi normal modes of Kerr black holes, Proc. R. Soc. A 402, 285 (1985).
  69. D. Baumann, H. S. Chia, and R. A. Porto, Probing ultralight bosons with binary black holes, Phys. Rev. D 99, 044001 (2019).
  70. X. Tong, Y. Wang, and H.-Y. Zhu, Termination of superradiance from a binary companion, Phys. Rev. D 106, 043002 (2022).
  71. H.-Y. Zhu, X. Tong, G. Manzoni, and Y. Ma, Survival of the fittest: Testing superradiance termination with simulated binary black hole statistics, Astrophys. J. 981, 165 (2025).
  72. K. Fan, X. Tong, Y. Wang, and H.-Y. Zhu, Modulating binary dynamics via the termination of black hole superradiance, Phys. Rev. D 109, 024059 (2024).
  73. G. M. Tomaselli, T. F. M. Spieksma, and G. Bertone, Resonant history of gravitational atoms in black hole binaries, Phys. Rev. D 110, 064048 (2024).
  74. V. Cardoso, F. Duque, and T. Ikeda, Tidal effects and disruption in superradiant clouds: A numerical investigation, Phys. Rev. D 101, 064054 (2020).
  75. S. Chen, A. Sesana, and C. J. Conselice, Constraining astrophysical observables of galaxy and supermassive black hole binary mergers using pulsar timing arrays, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 488, 401 (2019).
  76. N. Aghanim et al. (Planck Collaboration), Planck 2018 results. VI. Cosmological parameters, Astron. Astrophys. 641, A6 (2020).
  77. J. Kormendy and L. C. Ho, Coevolution (or not) of supermassive black holes and host galaxies, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 51, 511 (2013).
  78. P. Lang et al., Bulge growth and quenching since z=2.5 in CANDELS/3D-HST, Astrophys. J. 788, 11 (2014).
  79. A. F. L. Bluck, J. T. Mendel, S. L. Ellison, J. Moreno, L. Simard, D. R. Patton, and E. Starkenburg, Bulge mass is king: The dominant role of the bulge in determining the fraction of passive galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 441, 599 (2014).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 112, 103051– Published 26 November, 2025
  • Received 24 May 2025
  • Accepted 27 October 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation