LAUSR

We explore a new paradigm to study dissipative dark matter models using gravitational-wave observations. We present a method with the potential to either definitively determine the particle nature of dark matter, or rule out dark matter self interactions across a wide particle parameter space. We consider a dark atomic model which predicts the formation of binary black holes such as GW190425 while simultaneously solving the missing satellite problem and obeying constraints from large scale structure. Using LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave data from 12th September, 2015 to 21st May, 2019, we show that interpreting GW190425 as a dark matter black-hole binary limits the Chandrasekhar mass for dark matter below $1.4 M_\odot$ at > 99.9% confidence implying that the dark proton is heavier than 0.96 GeV, while also suggesting that the molecular energy-level spacing of dark molecules lies near $10^{-3}$ eV and constraining the cooling rate of dark matter at low temperatures.