Gravitational wave observations have significantly broadened our capacity to explore fundamental physics beyond the Standard Model, providing crucial insights into dark matter that are inaccessible through conventional methods. Here, we investigate the resonant interactions between binary black hole systems and solitons, self-gravitating configurations of ultralight bosonic dark matter, which induce metric perturbations and generate distinct oscillatory patterns in gravitational waves. Upcoming experiments such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could detect the oscillatory patterns in gravitational waveforms, providing an evidence for solitons. Because the effect relies solely on gravity, it does not assume any coupling of the dark sector to Standard Model particles, highlighting the capability of future gravitational-wave surveys to probe dark matter.

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• Axions
• Dark matter
• Gravitational waves
• Hypothetical particle physics models
• Particle astrophysics