Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 18, 2026
07:46
Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
9.0K
Could a Primordial Black Hole Explosion Explain the Extremely High-Energy KM3NeT Neutrino Event?
Lua F T Airoldi1, Gustavo F S Alves1, Yuber F Perez-Gonzalez2
1Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Física, C.P. 66.318, 05315-970 São Paulo, Brazil.
Physical Review Letters
|February 16, 2026
Summary
The evaporation of a primordial black hole (PBH) could explain a recent high-energy neutrino event. However, the lack of expected gamma-ray and cosmic ray signals strongly disfavors this explanation.
Area of Science:
- Astrophysics
- Particle Physics
- Cosmology
Background:
- Primordial black holes (PBHs) are hypothetical black holes formed in the early universe.
- Hawking radiation predicts black holes evaporate, emitting particles.
- A recent PeV neutrino event (KM3NeT) was potentially linked to a PBH explosion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if a nearby PBH evaporation could explain the observed PeV neutrino event.
- To search for multimessenger signals (gamma rays, cosmic rays) associated with such an event.
- To constrain the PBH evaporation hypothesis based on observational data.
Main Methods:
- Simulated expected gamma-ray and cosmic ray fluxes from a nearby PBH.
- Incorporated time-dependent observatory fields of view (LHAASO, IceCube, KM3NeT).
- Compared simulated signals with existing observational data from the hours preceding the neutrino event.
Main Results:
- A PBH source within the Solar System would produce detectable gamma-ray and cosmic ray fluxes.
- LHAASO should have detected approximately 10^8 events hours before the KM3NeT detection.
- IceCube and KM3NeT should have detected hundreds of neutrino events in the preceding 24 hours.
Conclusions:
- The absence of a significant multimessenger signal, especially from gamma-ray observatories, strongly disfavors the PBH evaporation explanation for the KM3NeT event.
- The minimal four-dimensional Schwarzschild scenario for PBH evaporation is inconsistent with current observations.
Related Concept Videos
01:10Detection of Black Holes
2.6K
Although black holes were theoretically postulated in the 1920s, they remained outside the domain of observational astronomy until the 1970s.
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...
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...
2.6K
01:21Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
2.8K
No object with a finite mass can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. This fact has an interesting consequence in the domain of extremely high gravitational fields.
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...
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...
2.8K
03:20Nuclear Transmutation
20.8K
Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one nuclide into another. It can occur by the radioactive decay of a nucleus, or the reaction of a nucleus with another particle. The first manmade nucleus was produced in Ernest Rutherford’s laboratory in 1919 by a transmutation reaction, the bombardment of one type of nuclei with other nuclei or with neutrons. Rutherford bombarded nitrogen-14 atoms with high-speed α particles from a natural radioactive isotope of radium and observed...
20.8K
03:23Types of Radioactivity
19.9K
The most common types of radioactivity are α decay, β decay, γ decay, neutron emission, and electron capture.
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
19.9K
01:19Thomson's e/m Experiment
7.0K
In a beam of charged particles created by a heated cathode, the particles move at different speeds. However, many applications need a beam with uniform particle speeds. An arrangement known as a velocity selector uses electric and magnetic fields to pick particles with a particular speed from the beam.
A particle with charge q, speed v, and mass m enters an area from the top, where the magnetic and electric fields are perpendicular both to the particle's motion and to one another. The magnetic...
A particle with charge q, speed v, and mass m enters an area from the top, where the magnetic and electric fields are perpendicular both to the particle's motion and to one another. The magnetic...
7.0K
01:14Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
2.4K
Near absolute zero temperatures, in the presence of a magnetic field, the majority of nuclei prefer the lower energy spin-up state to the higher energy spin-down state. As temperatures increase, the energy from thermal collisions distributes the spins more equally between the two states. The Boltzmann distribution equation gives the ratio of the number of spins predicted in the spin −½ (N−) and spin +½ (N+) states.
2.4K