Spectral density

Quantum mechanics

Function (biology)

Primordial black hole

Inflation (cosmology)

Biology

Statistics

Computational physics

Astrophysics

LIGO

Statistical physics

Evolutionary biology

Binary black hole

Physics

Mathematics

Astronomy

Parameter space

Gravitational wave

Probability density function

Fourier transform

Window function

Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

Primordial black holes (PBHs) can be produced by the perturbations that exit the horizon during the inflationary phase. While inflation models predict the power spectrum of the perturbations in Fourier space, the PBH abundance depends on the probability distribution function of density perturbations in real space. To estimate the PBH abundance in a given inflation model, we must relate the power spectrum in Fourier space to the probability density function in real space by coarse graining the perturbations with a window function. However, there are uncertainties on what window function should be used, which could change the relation between the PBH abundance and the power spectrum. This is particularly important in considering PBHs with mass $30\text{ }\text{ }{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$, which account for the LIGO events because the required power spectrum is severely constrained by the observations. In this paper, we investigate how large an influence the uncertainties on the choice of a window function has over the power spectrum required for LIGO PBHs. As a result, it is found that the uncertainties significantly affect the prediction for the stochastic gravitational waves induced by the second-order effect of the perturbations. In particular, the pulsar timing array constraints on the produced gravitational waves could disappear for the real-space top-hat window function.

Primordial black holes and uncertainties in the choice of the window function