Primordial Black Holes and Dark Matter Dynamics
Summary
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are hypothesised to have formed in the early Universe from the direct collapse of density fluctuations or phase-transition remnants. Unlike astrophysical black holes, their masses span a wide range, from sub-stellar to supermassive scales, and they can interact with conventional dark matter through gravitational effects and Hawking radiation. In cosmological models, PBHs may account for a fraction of the dark matter, influencing structure formation, gravitational lensing and the cosmic microwave background. Their evaporation via Hawking radiation can produce Standard Model particles and potential dark matter candidates, modifying relic abundances and leaving imprints across multiple observational channels. The mass spectrum and spatial distribution of PBHs, together with associated scalar-induced gravitational waves, yield constraints on early-Universe dynamics and inflationary perturbations. Current research explores the dual role of PBHs as probes of small-scale curvature perturbations and as dark matter constituents, bridging theoretical predictions with multiwavelength observations and particle physics processes pertinent to dark matter dynamics.
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Primordial Black Holes and Dark Matter Dynamics publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in primordial black holes and dark matter dynamics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Primordial black hole (PBH): A black hole formed in the early Universe from the collapse of high-density regions rather than stellar evolution.
Hawking radiation: Quantum mechanical emission of particles from a black hole’s event horizon, leading to mass loss over time.
Scalar-induced gravitational waves: Ripples in spacetime generated by second-order effects of primordial density (scalar) perturbations in the early Universe.
Freeze-out mechanism: A process in which dark matter particles decouple from thermal equilibrium as the Universe cools, fixing their relic abundance.
Freeze-in mechanism: Production of dark matter via very weak interactions, where particles never reach thermal equilibrium but accumulate to a relic density.
References
- Implications for Primordial Black Holes from Cosmological Constraints on Scalar-induced Gravitational Waves. The Astrophysical Journal (2023).
- Primordial black hole evaporation and dark matter production. I. Solely Hawking radiation. Physical Review D (2022).
- Effects of primordial black holes on dark matter models. Physical Review D (2020).
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