Home » Technology » :: OSEL.CZ :: – Webb’s telescope can confirm that dark matter is formed by primordial black holes

:: OSEL.CZ :: – Webb’s telescope can confirm that dark matter is formed by primordial black holes

Webb’s telescope can confirm that dark matter is formed by primordial black holes

Primordial black holes in space. Credit: Yale / ESA.

One of the topics that has been recurring in recent years is primordial black holes. These singularities, which were supposed to emerge immediately after the Big Bang, are like some astrophysical boomerang, probably mainly because of their role as a candidate for dark matter. This has happened again recently. Priayamvada Natarajan of Yale University and her colleagues argue that primordial black holes could make up virtually any dark matter.

Priyamvada Natarajan.  Credit: Yale University.

Priyamvada Natarajan. Credit: Yale University.

It follows from their model of the early universe. If the model confirms their observation of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is now flying to its site, it would be a breakthrough in both dark matter and black holes. Natarajan and her colleagues return to Hawking and Barr’s 1970s theory, which, in the first moments after the Big Bang, created high-density areas in space, and then collapsed into primordial black holes.

This theory has not received widespread acclaim, but due to a chronic problem with the explanation of dark matter, it is still in sight. Natarajanova et al. they are convinced that with some adjustments she could do great things. According to them, it would help if most primordial black holes were born with a mass of about 1.4 Sun. In that case, they could explain all the dark matter.

According to the new model, they would also explain the hitherto mysterious formation of supermassive black holes. They could grow rapidly and become the seeds of these monumental space monsters from the very beginning of the universe. Natarajan is fascinated that their idea elegantly combines two really stubborn problems of today’s astrophysics into a single solution.

James Webb could bring answers in the near future.  Credit: Arianespace / ESA, Wikimedia Commons.

James Webb could bring answers in the near future. Credit: Arianespace / ESA, Wikimedia Commons.

If they are right, their solution does not require any new particles or exotic physics. That would be a bit disappointing, but in the area of ​​dark matter and supermassive black holes, there would be peace, at least for a while.

The primordial black holes of Natarajan and her colleagues could solve another cosmic mystery. This is an excess of infrared radiation, synchronized with X-rays, which has been detected in distant and indistinct sources throughout the universe. According to researchers, just such radiation could create growing primordial black holes.

Best of all, the existence of the primordial black holes that Natarajan is considering can be confirmed or refuted by the James Webb Space Telescope or the Gravity Space Observatory, such as the forthcoming European Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). If dark matter is really made up of primordial black holes, more stars and galaxies should form around them in the early universe. James Webb should see that. LISA, in turn, should detect gravitational waves of early primordial black hole collisions. We can only look forward to the results.

Video: The Invisible Universe: Priyamvada Natarajan Public Lecture

Literature

Yale News 16. 12. 2021.

arXiv:2109.08701.

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