Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 16, 2026

Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
Ultrahigh-Energy Neutrinos from Primordial Black Holes
Alexandra P Klipfel1, David I Kaiser1
1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Abstract:
The KM3NeT Collaboration recently announced the detection of a neutrino with energy 220 PeV. One possible source of such ultrahigh-energy particles is the rapid emission of energetic Hawking radiation from a primordial black hole (PBH) near the end of its evaporation lifetime. The mass distribution for PBHs features a power-law tail for small masses; a small subset of PBHs would be undergoing late-stage evaporation today. We find that recent high-energy neutrino events detected by the IceCube and KM3NeT Collaborations, with energies O(1-10^{2}) PeV, are consistent with event-rate expectations if a significant fraction of the dark matter consists of PBHs.
Related Concept Videos
Detection of Black Holes
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
Nuclear Transmutation
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
Nuclear Fusion
A helium nucleus has a mass that is 0.7% less than that of four hydrogen nuclei; this lost mass is converted into energy during the fusion. This reaction produces about...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution

