Researchers in Japan posed the idea that primordial black holes could be part of the Universe's dark matter, using a new technique.
This graphic shows how large-amplitude fluctions on small scales in the cosmic background background could result in primordial black holes. Courtesy: ESA/Planck Collaboration/Jason Kristiano.
Primordial black holes are one of several types of highly massive objects thought to exist in the Universe. We already know about stellar-mass black holes. They form during the deaths of hugely massive stars and generally end up containing up to dozens of solar masses. Then there are the supermassive black holes, embedded in the hearts of most galaxies. They sequester up to millions of solar masses.
While astronomers search for PHBs, others are looking to explain why they might be part of the dark matter component of the Universe. In addition, they could explain the origin of binary black holes detected in gravitational wave observations. These miniature ones are fascinating to think about. “Many researchers feel they are a strong candidate for dark matter, but there would need to be plenty of them to satisfy that theory,” said graduate student and team member Jason Kristiano. “They are interesting for other reasons too, as since the recent innovation of gravitational wave astronomy, there have been discoveries of binary black hole mergers, which can be explained if PBHs exist in large numbers.
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