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Exploring Primordial Black Holes from the Multiverse with Optical Telescopes
Alexander Kusenko1,2, Misao Sasaki2,3,4, Sunao Sugiyama2,5
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|November 16, 2020
Summary
Primordial black holes (PBHs) in the sublunar mass range could be dark matter. This inflationary bubble nucleation scenario explains dark matter, a Subaru event, and black hole observations, with future surveys offering definitive tests.
Area of Science:
- Cosmology
- Astrophysics
- Particle Physics
Background:
- Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a leading dark matter candidate, particularly in the unconstrained sublunar mass range.
- Inflationary cosmology provides a mechanism for PBH production via false vacuum bubble nucleation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential of inflationary bubble nucleation to produce PBHs that constitute all dark matter.
- To reconcile PBH production with existing observational data, including Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) and LIGO events.
- To establish future observational tests for this PBH formation mechanism.
Main Methods:
- Revisiting the theoretical framework of PBH production during cosmic inflation.
- Analyzing numerical simulations to model PBH population characteristics.
- Comparing model predictions with observational constraints from astronomical surveys.
Main Results:
- The inflationary bubble nucleation scenario can generate a PBH population consistent with all dark matter.
- This mechanism explains the candidate event observed in Subaru HSC data.
- The scenario accommodates both LIGO-detected heavy black holes and seeds for supermassive black holes.
Conclusions:
- PBH production via false vacuum bubble nucleation during inflation is a compelling model for dark matter.
- Future optical surveys like HSC and LSST can definitively test this PBH formation mechanism if it dominates dark matter.
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