Exploring Primordial Black Holes from the Multiverse with Optical Telescopes

Signatures of a High Temperature QCD Transition in the Early Universe

Beyond-Standard-Model extensions of QCD could result in quark and gluon confinement occurring well above at temperature around the GeV scale. These models can also alter the order of the QCD phase transition. Therefore, the enhanced production of primordial black holes (PBHs) that can accompany the change in relativistic degrees of freedom at the QCD transition could favor the production of PBHs with mass scales smaller than the Standard Model QCD horizon scale. Consequently, and unlike PBHs associated with a standard GeV-scale QCD transition, such PBHs can account for all the dark matter abundance in the unconstrained asteroid-mass window. This links beyond-Standard-Model modifications of QCD physics over a broad range of unexplored temperature regimes (around 10-10^{3}  TeV) with microlensing surveys searching for PBHs. Additionally, we discuss implications of these models for gravitational wave experiments. We show that a first-order QCD phase transition at around 7 TeV is consistent with the Subaru Hyper-Suprime Cam candidate event, while a transition of around 70 GeV is consistent with OGLE candidate events and could also account for the claimed NANOGrav gravitational wave signal.

The Black Hole Universe, Part II

In part I of this series, we showed that the observed Universe can be modeled as a local Black Hole of fixed mass M≃6×1022M⊙, without Dark Energy: cosmic acceleration is caused by the Black Hole event horizon rS = 2GM. Here, we propose that such Black Hole Universe (together with smaller primordial Black Holes) could form from the hierarchical free-fall collapse of regular matter. We argue that the singularity could be avoided with a Big Bounce explosion, which results from neutron degeneracy pressure (Pauli exclusion principle). This happens at GeV energies, like in core collapse supernova, well before the collapse reaches Planck energies (1019 GeV). If our Universe formed this way, there is no need for Cosmic Inflation or a singular start (the Big Bang). Nucleosynthesis and recombination follow a hot expansion, as in the standard model, but cosmological measurements (which are free parameters in the standard model) could in principle be predicted from first principles. Part or all of the Dark Matter could be made up of primordial compact objects (Black Holes and Neutron Stars), remnants of the collapse and bounce. This can provide a faster start for galaxy formation. We present a simple prediction to explain the observed value of M≃6×1022M⊙ or equivalently ΩΛ (the fraction of the critical energy density observed today in form of Dark Energy) and the coincidence problem Ωm∼ΩΛ.

The Black Hole Universe, Part I

The original Friedmann (1922) and Lemaitre (1927) cosmological model corresponds to a classical solution of General Relativity (GR), with the same uniform (FLRW) metric as the standard cosmology, but bounded to a sphere of radius R and empty space outside. We study the junction conditions for R to show that a co-moving observer, like us, located anywhere inside R, measures the same background and has the same past light-cone as an observer in an infinite FLRW with the same density. We also estimate the mass M inside R and show that in the observed universe R<rS≡2 GM, which corresponds to a Black Hole Universe (BHU). We argue that this original Friedmann–Lemaitre model can explain the observed cosmic acceleration without the need of Dark Energy, because rS acts like a cosmological constant Λ=3/rS2. The same solution can describe the interior of a stellar or galactic BHs. In co-moving coordinates the BHU is expanding while in physical or proper coordinates it is asymptotically static. Such frame duality corresponds to a simple Lorentz transformation. The BHU therefore provides a physical BH solution with an asymptotically deSitter metric interior that merges into a Schwarzschild metric exterior without discontinuities.

How the Big Bang Ends Up Inside a Black Hole

The standard model of cosmology assumes that our Universe began 14 Gyrs (billion years) ago from a singular Big Bang creation. This can explain a vast range of different astrophysical data from a handful of free cosmological parameters. However, we have no direct evidence or fundamental understanding of some key assumptions: Inflation, Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Here we review the idea that cosmic expansion originates instead from gravitational collapse and bounce. The collapse generates a Black Hole (BH) of mass M≃5×1022M⊙ that formed 25 Gyrs ago. As there is no pressure support, the cold collapse can continue inside in free fall until it reaches atomic nuclear saturation (GeV), when is halted by Quantum Mechanics, as two particles cannot occupy the same quantum state. The collapse then bounces like a core-collapse supernovae, producing the Big Bang expansion. Cosmic acceleration results from the BH event horizon. During collapse, perturbations exit the horizon to re-enter during expansion, giving rise to the observed universe without the need for Inflation or Dark Energy. Using Ockham’s razor, this makes the BH Universe (BHU) model more compelling than the standard singular Big Bang creation.

PBH Formation from Spherically Symmetric Hydrodynamical Perturbations: A Review

Primordial black holes, which could have been formed in the very early Universe due to the collapse of large curvature fluctuations, are currently one of the most attractive and fascinating research areas in cosmology for their possible theoretical and observational implications. This review article presents the current results and developments on the conditions for primordial black hole formation from the collapse of curvature fluctuations in spherical symmetry on a Friedman–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker background and its numerical simulation. We review the appropriate formalism for the conditions of primordial black hole formation, and we detail a numerical implementation. We then focus on different results regarding the threshold and the black hole mass using different sets of curvature fluctuations. Finally, we present the current state of analytical estimations for the primordial black hole formation threshold, contrasted with numerical simulations.

Dynamics and Merger Rate of Primordial Black Holes in a Cluster

The PBH clusters can be sources of gravitational waves, and the merger rate depends on the spatial distribution of PBHs in the cluster which changes over time. It is well known that gravitational collisional systems experience the core collapse that leads to significant increase of the central density and shrinking of the core. After core collapse, the cluster expands almost self-similarly (i.e., density profile extends in size without changing its shape). These dynamic processes affect the merger rate of PBHs. In this paper, the dynamics of the PBH cluster is considered using the Fokker–Planck equation. We calculate the merger rate of PBHs on cosmic time scales and show that its time dependence has a unique signature. Namely, it grows by about an order of magnitude at the moment of core collapse which depends on the characteristics of the cluster, and then decreases according to the dependence R∝t−1.48. It was obtained for monochromatic and power-law PBH mass distributions with some fixed parameters. Obtained results can be used to test the model of the PBH clusters via observation of gravitational waves at high redshift.

Constraints on primordial black holes

We update the constraints on the fraction of the Universe that may have gone into primordial black holes (PBHs) over the mass range 10^-5to 10⁵⁰ g. Those smaller than ∼10¹⁵ g would have evaporated by now due to Hawking radiation, so their abundance at formation is constrained by the effects of evaporated particles on big bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the Galactic and extragalacticγ-ray and cosmic ray backgrounds and the possible generation of stable Planck mass relics. PBHs larger than ∼10¹⁵ g are subject to a variety of constraints associated with gravitational lensing, dynamical effects, influence on large-scale structure, accretion and gravitational waves. We discuss the constraints on both the initial collapse fraction and the current fraction of the dark matter (DM) in PBHs at each mass scale but stress that many of the constraints are associated with observational or theoretical uncertainties. We also consider indirect constraints associated with the amplitude of the primordial density fluctuations, such as second-order tensor perturbations andμ-distortions arising from the effect of acoustic reheating on the CMB, if PBHs are created from the high-σpeaks of nearly Gaussian fluctuations. Finally we discuss how the constraints are modified if the PBHs have an extended mass function, this being relevant if PBHs provide some combination of the DM, the LIGO/Virgo coalescences and the seeds for cosmic structure. Even if PBHs make a small contribution to the DM, they could play an important cosmological role and provide a unique probe of the early Universe.

Test for the Origin of Solar Mass Black Holes

Solar-mass black holes with masses in the range of ∼1-2.5  M_{⊙} are not expected from conventional stellar evolution, but can be produced naturally via neutron star (NS) implosions induced by capture of small primordial black holes (PBHs) or from accumulation of some varieties of particle dark matter. We argue that a unique signature of such "transmuted" solar-mass BHs is that their mass distribution would follow that of the NSs. This would be distinct from the mass function of black holes in the solar-mass range predicted either by conventional stellar evolution or early Universe PBH production. We propose that analysis of the solar-mass BH population mass distribution in a narrow mass window of ∼1-2.5  M_{⊙} can provide a simple yet powerful test of the origin of these BHs. Recent LIGO/VIRGO gravitational wave (GW) observations of the binary merger events GW190425 and GW190814 are consistent with a BH mass in the range ∼1.5-2.6  M_{⊙}. Though these results have fueled speculation on dark matter-transmuted solar-mass BHs, we demonstrate that it is unlikely that the origin of these particular events stems from NS implosions. Data from upcoming GW observations will be able to distinguish between solar-mass BHs and NSs with high confidence. This capability will facilitate and enhance the efficacy of our proposed test.

Primordial Black Holes from Long-Range Scalar Forces and Scalar Radiative Cooling

We describe a new scenario for the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs). In the early Universe, the long-range forces mediated by the scalar fields can lead to formation of halos of heavy particles even during the radiation-dominated era. The same interactions result in the emission of scalar radiation from the motion and close encounters of particles in such halos. Radiative cooling due the scalar radiation allows the halos to collapse to black holes. We illustrate this scenario on a simple model with fermions interacting via the Yukawa forces. The abundance and the mass function of PBHs are suitable to account for all dark matter, or for some gravitational wave events detected by LIGO. The model relates the mass of the dark-sector particles to the masses and abundance of dark matter PBHs in a way that can explain why the dark matter and the ordinary matter have similar mass densities. The model also predicts a small contribution to the number of effective light degrees of freedom, which can help reconcile different measurements of the Hubble constant.

NANOGrav Data Hints at Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

The NANOGrav Collaboration has recently published strong evidence for a stochastic common-spectrum process that may be interpreted as a stochastic gravitational wave background. We show that such a signal can be explained by second-order gravitational waves produced during the formation of primordial black holes from the collapse of sizeable scalar perturbations generated during inflation. This possibility has two predictions: (i) the primordial black holes may comprise the totality of the dark matter with the dominant contribution to their mass function falling in the range (10^{-15}÷10^{-11})M_{⊙} and (ii) the gravitational wave stochastic background will be seen as well by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna experiment.