Ultra-light bosons, well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model, are leading candidates for dark matter. These particles can form coherent structures like solitons near the galactic centre, creating oscillating gravitational fields that imprint unique signatures on gravitational waves (GWs) from nearby sources. Similar effects arise when ultra-light bosons interact universally with ordinary matter via conformal couplings. This talk will delve into these phenomena and discuss how next-generation GW detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, could uncover these dark matter signatures. Observations of spinning neutron stars near the Galactic Centre offer a particularly promising avenue to constrain the properties of these elusive particles and their interactions with matter.
Organized by: Catarina Cosme