Constraints on primordial black holes

Dimming Starlight with Dark Compact Objects

We demonstrate a new technique to search for dark compact objects. When dark matter comprising a dark compact object interacts with photons, the compact object can disperse light traveling though it. As these objects pass between Earth and a distant star, they act as "lampshades" that dim the star. We examine how dimming effects from clumps of dark matter in the Galaxy could be searched for in microlensing surveys, which measure the brightness of stars as a function of time. Using the EROS-2 and OGLE surveys, we show that a dimming analysis of existing data can be used to constrain dark sectors and could be used to discover dark matter in compact objects.

Primordial black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures

In the recent years, primordial black holes (PBHs) have emerged as one of the most interesting and hotly debated topics in cosmology. Among other possibilities, PBHs could explain both some of the signals from binary black hole mergers observed in gravitational-wave detectors and an important component of the dark matter in the Universe. Significant progress has been achieved both on the theory side and from the point of view of observations, including new models and more accurate calculations of PBH formation, evolution, clustering, merger rates, as well as new astrophysical and cosmological probes. In this work, we review, analyze and combine the latest developments in order to perform end-to-end calculations of the various gravitational-wave signatures of PBHs. Different ways to distinguish PBHs from stellar black holes are emphasized. Finally, we discuss their detectability with LISA, the first planned gravitational-wave observatory in space.

Black Holes and Gravitational Waves from Slow First-Order Phase Transitions

Slow first-order phase transitions generate large inhomogeneities that can lead to the formation of primordial black holes. We show that the gravitational wave spectrum then consists of a primary component sourced by bubble collisions and a secondary one induced by large perturbations. The latter gives the dominant peak if β/H_{0}<12, impacting, in particular, the interpretation of the recent pulsar timing array data. The gravitational wave signal associated with a particular primordial black hole population is stronger than in typical scenarios because of a negative non-Gaussianity of the perturbations, and it has a distinguishable shape with two peaks.

Primordial Black Hole Compaction Function from Stochastic Fluctuations in Ultraslow-Roll Inflation

We study the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) with ultraslow-roll inflation when stochastic effects are important. We use the ΔN formalism and simplify the stochastic equations with an analytical constant-roll approximation. Considering a viable inflation model, we find the spatial profile of the PBH compaction function numerically for each stochastic patch, without assumptions about Gaussianity or the radial profile. The stochastic effects that lead to an exponential tail for the density distribution also make the compaction function very spiky, unlike as assumed in the literature. Naively using collapse thresholds found for smooth profiles, the PBH abundance is enhanced by up to a factor of 10^{9}, and the PBH mass distribution is spread over 3 orders of magnitude in mass. The results point to a need to redo numerical simulations of PBH formation with spiky profiles.

Coexistence Test of Primordial Black Holes and Particle Dark Matter from Diffractive Lensing

If dark matter (DM) consists of primordial black holes (PBHs) and particles simultaneously, PBHs are generically embedded within particle DM halos. Such "dressed PBHs" (dPBHs) are subject to modified constraints compared to PBHs and can contribute to significant DM abundance in the mass range 10^{-1}-10^{2}M_{⊙}. We show that diffractive lensing of chirping gravitational waves from binary mergers can not only discover, but can also identify dPBH lenses and discriminate them from bare PBHs on the event-by-event basis, with potential to definitively establish the coexistence of subdominant PBHs and particle DM.

Direct Collapse Supermassive Black Holes from Relic Particle Decay

We investigate the formation of high-redshift supermassive black holes (SMBHs) via the direct collapse of baryonic clouds, where the unwanted formation of molecular hydrogen is successfully suppressed by a Lyman-Werner (LW) photon background from relic particle decay. We improve on existing studies by dynamically simulating the collapse, accounting for the adiabatic contraction of the DM halo, as well as the in situ production of the LW photons within the cloud which reduce the impact of the cloud's shielding. We find a viable parameter space where the decay of either some of the dark matter or all of a subdominant decaying species successfully allows direct collapse of the cloud to a SMBH.

Primordial Black Holes from Null Energy Condition Violation during Inflation

Primordial black holes (PBHs) and the violation of the null energy condition (NEC) have significant implications for our understanding of the very early Universe. We present a novel approach to generate PBHs via the NEC violation in a single-field inflationary scenario. In our scenario, the Universe transitions from a first slow-roll inflation stage with a Hubble parameter H=H_{inf1} to a second slow-roll inflation stage with H=H_{inf2}≫H_{inf1}, passing through an intermediate stage of NEC violation. The NEC violation naturally enhances the primordial scalar power spectrum at a certain wavelength, leading to the production of PBHs with masses and abundances of observational interest. We also investigate the phenomenological signatures of scalar-induced gravitational waves resulting from the enhanced density perturbations. Our work highlights the potential of utilizing a combination of PBHs, scalar-induced gravitational waves, and primordial gravitational waves as a valuable probe for studying NEC violation during inflation, opening up new avenues for exploring the early Universe.

Primordial Black Holes with QCD Color Charge

We describe a realistic mechanism whereby black holes with significant QCD color charge could have formed during the early Universe. Primordial black holes (PBHs) could make up a significant fraction of the dark matter if they formed well before the QCD confinement transition. Such PBHs would form by absorbing unconfined quarks and gluons and hence could acquire a net color charge. We estimate the number of PBHs per Hubble volume with near-extremal color charge for various scenarios and discuss possible phenomenological implications.

Search for Antideuterons of Cosmic Origin Using the BESS-Polar II Magnetic-Rigidity Spectrometer

We searched for antideuterons (d[over ¯]'s) in the 4.7×10^{9} cosmic-ray events observed during the BESS-Polar II flight at solar minimum in 2007-2008 but found no candidates. The resulting 95% C.L. upper limit on the d[over ¯] flux is 6.7×10^{-5}  (m^{2} s sr GeV/n)^{-1} in an energy range from 0.163 to 1.100  GeV/n. The result has improved by more than a factor of 14 from the upper limit of BESS97, which had a potential comparable to that of BESS-Polar II in the search for cosmic-origin d[over ¯]'s and was conducted during the former solar minimum. The upper limit of d[over ¯] flux from BESS-Polar II is the first result achieving the sensitivity to constrain the latest theoretical predictions.

Footprints of the QCD Crossover on Cosmological Gravitational Waves at Pulsar Timing Arrays

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) have reported evidence for a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background at nanohertz frequencies, possibly originating in the early Universe. We show that the spectral shape of the low-frequency (causality) tail of GW signals sourced at temperatures around T≳1  GeV is distinctively affected by confinement of strong interactions (QCD), due to the corresponding sharp decrease in the number of relativistic species, and significantly deviates from ∼f^{3} commonly adopted in the literature. Bayesian analyses in the NANOGrav 15 years and the previous international PTA datasets reveal a significant improvement in the fit with respect to cubic power-law spectra, previously employed for the causality tail. While no conclusion on the nature of the signal can be drawn at the moment, our results show that the inclusion of standard model effects on cosmological GWs can have a decisive impact on model selection.

Recent Gravitational Wave Observation by Pulsar Timing Arrays and Primordial Black Holes: The Importance of Non-Gaussianities

We study whether the signal seen by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) may originate from gravitational waves (GWs) induced by large primordial perturbations. Such perturbations may be accompanied by a sizable primordial black hole (PBH) abundance. We improve existing analyses and show that PBH overproduction disfavors Gaussian scenarios for scalar-induced GWs at 2σ and single-field inflationary scenarios, accounting for non-Gaussianity, at 3σ as the explanation of the most constraining NANOGrav 15-year data. This tension can be relaxed in models where non-Gaussianities suppress the PBH abundance. On the flip side, the PTA data does not constrain the abundance of PBHs.

Signatures of a High Temperature QCD Transition in the Early Universe

Beyond-Standard-Model extensions of QCD could result in quark and gluon confinement occurring well above at temperature around the GeV scale. These models can also alter the order of the QCD phase transition. Therefore, the enhanced production of primordial black holes (PBHs) that can accompany the change in relativistic degrees of freedom at the QCD transition could favor the production of PBHs with mass scales smaller than the Standard Model QCD horizon scale. Consequently, and unlike PBHs associated with a standard GeV-scale QCD transition, such PBHs can account for all the dark matter abundance in the unconstrained asteroid-mass window. This links beyond-Standard-Model modifications of QCD physics over a broad range of unexplored temperature regimes (around 10-10^{3}  TeV) with microlensing surveys searching for PBHs. Additionally, we discuss implications of these models for gravitational wave experiments. We show that a first-order QCD phase transition at around 7 TeV is consistent with the Subaru Hyper-Suprime Cam candidate event, while a transition of around 70 GeV is consistent with OGLE candidate events and could also account for the claimed NANOGrav gravitational wave signal.

Heavy Primordial Black Holes from Strongly Clustered Light Black Holes

We show that heavy primordial black holes may originate from much lighter ones if the latter are strongly clustered at the time of their formation. While this population is subject to the usual constraints from late-time universe observations, its relation to the initial conditions is different from the standard scenario and provides a new mechanism to generate massive primordial black holes even in the absence of efficient accretion, opening new scenarios, e.g., for the generation of supermassive black holes.

What Is the Fate of Hawking Evaporation in Gravity Theories with Higher Curvature Terms?

During the final stages of black hole evaporation, ultraviolet deviations from general relativity eventually become dramatic, potentially affecting the end state. We explore this problem by performing nonlinear simulations of wave packets in Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, the only gravity theory with quadratic curvature terms which can be studied at a fully nonperturbative level. Black holes in this theory have a minimum mass but also a nonvanishing temperature. This poses a puzzle concerning the final fate of Hawking evaporation in the presence of high-curvature nonperturbative effects. By simulating the mass loss induced by evaporation at the classical level using an auxiliary phantom field, we study the nonlinear evolution of black holes past the minimum mass. We observe a runaway shrink of the horizon (a nonperturbative effect forbidden in general relativity) which eventually unveils a high-curvature elliptic region. While this might hint to the formation of a naked singularity (and hence to a violation of the weak cosmic censorship) or of a pathological spacetime region, a different numerical formulation of the initial-value problem in this theory might be required to rule out other possibilities, including the transition from the critical black hole to a stable horizonless remnant. Our Letter is relevant in the context of the information-loss paradox, dark-matter remnants, and for constraints on microscopic primordial black holes.

Gravitational Waves from the Merger of Two Primordial Black Hole Clusters

The orbital evolution of a binary system consisting of two primordial black hole clusters is investigated. Such clusters are predicted in some theoretical models with broken symmetry in the inflation Lagrangian. A cluster consists of the most massive central black hole surrounded by many smaller black holes. Similar to single primordial black holes, clusters can form gravitationally bounded pairs and merge during their orbital evolution. The replacement of single black holes by such clusters significantly changes the entire merger process and the final rate of gravitational wave bursts in some parameter ranges (with sufficiently large cluster radii). A new important factor is the tidal gravitational interaction of the clusters. It leads to an additional dissipation of the orbital energy, which is transferred into the internal energy of the clusters or carried away by black holes flying out of the clusters. Comparison with the data of gravitational-wave telescopes allows one to constrain the fractions of primordial black holes in clusters, depending on their mass and compactness. Even the primordial black hole fraction in the composition of dark matter ≃1 turns out to be compatible with LIGO/Virgo observational data, if the black holes are in clusters.

Ruling Out Initially Clustered Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

Combining constraints from microlensing and Lyman-α forest, we provide a simple argument to show that large spatial clustering of stellar-mass primordial black holes at the time of formation, such as the one induced by the presence of large non-Gaussianities, is ruled out. Therefore, it is not possible to evade existing constraints preventing stellar-mass primordial black holes from being a dominant constituent of the dark matter by boosting their initial clustering.

Entropy of the Universe and Hierarchical Dark Matter

We discuss the relationship between dark matter and the entropy of the universe, with the premise that dark matter exists in the form of primordial black holes (PBHs) in a hierarchy of mass tiers. The lightest tier includes all PBHs with masses below one hundred solar masses. The second-lightest tier comprises intermediate-mass PIMBHs within galaxies, including the Milky Way. Supermassive black holes at galactic centres are in the third tier. We are led to speculate that there exists a fourth tier of extremely massive PBHs, more massive than entire galaxies. We discuss future observations by the Rubin Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Review on Stochastic Approach to Inflation

We present a review on the state-of-the-art of the mathematical framework known as stochastic inflation, paying special attention to its derivation, and giving references for the readers interested in results coming from the application of the stochastic framework to different inflationary scenarios, especially to those of interest for primordial black hole formation. During the derivation of the stochastic formalism, we will emphasise two aspects in particular: the difference between the separate universe approach and the true long wavelength limit of scalar inhomogeneities and the generically non-Markovian nature of the noises that appear in the stochastic equations.

Status and Perspectives of Continuous Gravitational Wave Searches

The birth of gravitational wave astronomy was triggered by the first detection of a signal produced by the merger of two compact objects (also known as a compact binary coalescence event). The following detections made by the Earth-based network of advanced interferometers had a significant impact in many fields of science: astrophysics, cosmology, nuclear physics and fundamental physics. However, compact binary coalescence signals are not the only type of gravitational waves potentially detectable by LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA. An interesting family of still undetected signals, and the ones that are considered in this review, are the so-called continuous waves, paradigmatically exemplified by the gravitational radiation emitted by galactic, fast-spinning isolated neutron stars with a certain degree of asymmetry in their mass distribution. In this work, I will review the status and the latest results from the analyses of advanced detector data.

Modified Supergravity Phenomenology in Gravitational Waves Era

We discuss phenomenological aspects of modified supergravity (MSG) in gravitational wave (GW) physics. MSG naturally provides double inflation and primordial black holes (PBHs) as cold dark matter. Intriguingly, MSG predicts a large amplification of the scalar and tensor perturbation power spectrum, generating a secondary GW stochastic background which can be tested in space-based interferometers.

Direct detection of dark matter-APPEC committee report

This report provides an extensive review of the experimental programme of direct detection searches of particle dark matter. It focuses mostly on European efforts, both current and planned, but does it within a broader context of a worldwide activity in the field. It aims at identifying the virtues, opportunities and challenges associated with the different experimental approaches and search techniques. It presents scientific and technological synergies, both existing and emerging, with some other areas of particle physics, notably collider and neutrino programmes, and beyond. It addresses the issue of infrastructure in light of the growing needs and challenges of the different experimental searches. Finally, the report makes a number of recommendations from the perspective of a long-term future of the field. They are introduced, along with some justification, in the opening overview and recommendations section and are next summarised at the end of the report. Overall, we recommend that the direct search for dark matter particle interactions with a detector target should be given top priority in astroparticle physics, and in all particle physics, and beyond, as a positive measurement will provide the most unambiguous confirmation of the particle nature of dark matter in the Universe.

Detecting Subsolar-Mass Primordial Black Holes in Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals with LISA and Einstein Telescope

Primordial black holes possibly formed in the early Universe could provide a significant fraction of the dark matter and would be unique probes of inflation. A smoking gun for their discovery would be the detection of a subsolar mass compact object. We argue that extreme mass-ratio inspirals will be ideal to search for subsolar-mass black holes not only with LISA but also with third-generation ground-based detectors such as Cosmic Explorer and the Einstein Telescope. These sources can provide unparalleled measurements of the mass of the secondary object at a subpercent level for primordial black holes as light as O(0.01)  M_{⊙} up to luminosity distances around hundred megaparsec and few gigaparsec for LISA and Einstein Telescope, respectively, in a complementary frequency range. This would allow claiming, with very high statistical confidence, the detection of a subsolar-mass black hole, which would also provide a novel (and currently undetectable) family of sources for third-generation detectors.

Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds: Current Detection Efforts and Future Prospects

The collection of individually resolvable gravitational wave (GW) events makes up a tiny fraction of all GW signals that reach our detectors, while most lie below the confusion limit and are undetected. Similarly to voices in a crowded room, the collection of unresolved signals gives rise to a background that is well-described via stochastic variables and, hence, referred to as the stochastic GW background (SGWB). In this review, we provide an overview of stochastic GW signals and characterise them based on features of interest such as generation processes and observational properties. We then review the current detection strategies for stochastic backgrounds, offering a ready-to-use manual for stochastic GW searches in real data. In the process, we distinguish between interferometric measurements of GWs, either by ground-based or space-based laser interferometers, and timing-residuals analyses with pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). These detection methods have been applied to real data both by large GW collaborations and smaller research groups, and the most recent and instructive results are reported here. We close this review with an outlook on future observations with third generation detectors, space-based interferometers, and potential noninterferometric detection methods proposed in the literature.

Why Must Primordial Non-Gaussianity Be Very Small?

One-loop correction to the power spectrum in generic single-field inflation is calculated by using standard perturbation theory. Because of the enhancement inversely proportional to the observed red tilt of the spectral index of curvature perturbation, the correction turns out to be much larger than previously anticipated. As a result, the primordial non-Gaussianity must be much smaller than the current observational bound in order to warrant the validity of cosmological perturbation theory.

Reheating in Runaway Inflation Models via the Evaporation of Mini Primordial Black Holes

We investigate the cosmology of mini Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) produced by large density perturbations that collapse during a stiff fluid domination phase. Such a phase can be realized by a runaway-inflaton model that crosses an inflection point or a sharp feature at the last stage of inflation. Mini PBHs evaporate promptly and reheat the early universe. In addition, we examine two notable implications of this scenario: the possible presence of PBH evaporation remnants in galaxies and a non-zero residual potential energy density for the runaway inflaton that might play the role of the dark energy. We specify the parameter space that this scenario can be realized and we find that a transit PBH domination phase is necessary due to gravitational wave (GW) constraints. A distinct prediction of the scenario is a compound GW signal that might be probed by current and future experiments. We also demonstrate our results employing an explicit inflation model.

Search for a Scalar Induced Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background in the Third LIGO-Virgo Observing Run

The formation of primordial black holes from inflationary fluctuations is accompanied by a scalar induced gravitational wave background. We perform a Bayesian search of such background in the data from Advanced LIGO and Virgo's first, second, and third observing runs, parametrizing the peak in the curvature power spectrum by a log-normal distribution. The search shows no evidence for such a background. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on the integrated power of the curvature power spectrum peak which, for a narrow width, reaches down to 0.02 at 10^{17}  Mpc^{-1}. The resulting constraints are stronger than those arising from big bang nucleosynthesis or cosmic microwave background observations. In addition, we find that the constraints from LIGO and Virgo, at their design sensitivity, and from the Einstein Telescope can compete with those related to the abundance of the formed primordial black holes.

PBH Formation from Spherically Symmetric Hydrodynamical Perturbations: A Review

Primordial black holes, which could have been formed in the very early Universe due to the collapse of large curvature fluctuations, are currently one of the most attractive and fascinating research areas in cosmology for their possible theoretical and observational implications. This review article presents the current results and developments on the conditions for primordial black hole formation from the collapse of curvature fluctuations in spherical symmetry on a Friedman–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker background and its numerical simulation. We review the appropriate formalism for the conditions of primordial black hole formation, and we detail a numerical implementation. We then focus on different results regarding the threshold and the black hole mass using different sets of curvature fluctuations. Finally, we present the current state of analytical estimations for the primordial black hole formation threshold, contrasted with numerical simulations.

Cosmic Coincidences of Primordial-Black-Hole Dark Matter

If primordial black holes (PBHs) contribute more than 10% of the dark matter (DM) density, their energy density today is of the same order as that of the baryons. Such a cosmic coincidence might hint at a mutual origin for the formation scenario of PBHs and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. Baryogenesis can be triggered by a sharp transition of the rolling rate of inflaton from slow-roll to (nearly) ultraslow-roll phases that produce large curvature perturbations for PBH formation in single-field inflationary models. We show that the baryogenesis requirement drives the PBH contribution to DM, along with the inferred PBH mass range, the resulting stochastic gravitational wave background frequency window, and the associated cosmic microwave background tensor-to-scalar ratio amplitude, into potentially observable regimes.