Blackholes In The Early Universe

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the formation of black holes in the early universe and their potential relationship to dark energy and dark matter. Participants explore theoretical models and implications of primordial black holes, as well as the nature of Hawking radiation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Theoretical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that the high density of the early universe could allow for the formation of many black holes.
  • Others argue that while small black holes could theoretically form, they cannot account for dark energy or dark matter due to their rapid evaporation and the nature of dark matter halos.
  • A participant suggests that primordial black holes (PBH) might form from density perturbations during inflation, leading to a range of possible black hole masses.
  • There is a discussion about the implications of Hawking radiation, with some questioning its status as a proven theory and others asserting its theoretical basis.
  • Concerns are raised about the potential creation of mini black holes at the LHC and their implications for safety and physics.
  • One participant notes that if black holes were created in the early universe, their distribution today remains uncertain and warrants further exploration.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that black holes could form in the early universe, but there is no consensus on their role in explaining dark energy or dark matter. Multiple competing views exist regarding the implications of primordial black holes and the nature of Hawking radiation.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations in the discussion regarding the assumptions made about black hole formation and the dependence on theoretical models. The relationship between primordial black holes and dark matter remains unresolved.

E=mc^84
Messages
50
Reaction score
0
Would it not be possible for many black holes to form in the beginning stages of the universe since the universe was very dense? Can that be the cause of the so called "Dark Energy" or "Dark Matter"?
 
Space news on Phys.org
It is not simply the matter density that makes formation of small black holes possible in the early universe, but rather the massive amounts of energy.

However, whether small black holes were actually formed or not, this is not possible as an explanation for dark energy or dark matter.

Small black holes evaporate very rapidly and explosively; so they are not "dark". Larger black holes can't make up the "halos" of dark matter that exist around galaxies. And they are nothing at all to do with dark energy, which is completely different from matter, or black holes.

Felicitations -- sylas
 
sylas said:
It is not simply the matter density that makes formation of small black holes possible in the early universe, but rather the massive amounts of energy.

However, whether small black holes were actually formed or not, this is not possible as an explanation for dark energy or dark matter.

Small black holes evaporate very rapidly and explosively; so they are not "dark". Larger black holes can't make up the "halos" of dark matter that exist around galaxies. And they are nothing at all to do with dark energy, which is completely different from matter, or black holes.

Felicitations -- sylas

So, then u agree that black holes are a possibility in the early universe
 
E=mc^84 said:
So, then u agree that black holes are a possibility in the early universe

Yes.
 
sylas said:
It is not simply the matter density that makes formation of small black holes possible in the early universe, but rather the massive amounts of energy.

However, whether small black holes were actually formed or not, this is not possible as an explanation for dark energy or dark matter.

Small black holes evaporate very rapidly and explosively; so they are not "dark". Larger black holes can't make up the "halos" of dark matter that exist around galaxies. And they are nothing at all to do with dark energy, which is completely different from matter, or black holes.

Felicitations -- sylas

Hawking radiation is a proved theory? Many times it is used as a true fact. But it really is?
Sorry for my ignorance! :redface:
 
Skolon said:
Hawking radiation is a proved theory? Many times it is used as a true fact. But it really is?
Sorry for my ignorance! :redface:

It's a theoretical consequence of what we think physics is like. We don't have a black hole available to test, but it would break some pretty fundamental ideas in physics if there was no Hawking radiation.
 
It's possible that primordial black holes (PBH) formed out of the initial density perturbations set up by inflation. Black holes would result from regions in the universe with comparatively large overdensities (or comparatively small expansion rates). In most models, these black holes begin to form when the seed perturbation re-enters the horizon after inflation -- and so the mass of the black hole is characteristic of the size of particle horizon at that time. This gives a fairly wide range of possible black hole masses: those formed early (just after the Planck time) are just fractions of a gram, however, those formed later can be much larger ([tex]10^5[/tex] solar masses).

Light black holes (with masses less than [tex]10^{15}[/tex] grams) will have evaporated via Hawking radiation by the current epoch. However, those heavier guys may well still be around. So, finally getting to your question, I think yes, there has been some work done on determining whether primordial black holes might contribute (in part or in whole) to the dark matter density. Here are two references I fished off spires (I haven't looked them over closely, admittedly).

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0302035"

http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.2308"

The claim that PBH's make up all the dark matter seems a little difficult to make work, since it's pretty clear that we need some form of weakly interacting dark matter to get structure formation to work right. But, perhaps they suggest a way around this in the paper...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is suppose that LHC will create some mini black holes. Then we will really know is Hawking radiation exist. I very hope he was right! But if he's not?

But I think we can be calm because if he is wrong the Earth stop to exist log time ago. In upper atmosphere exist much stronger collisions that LHC's. So, a lot of little BH were created in time.
 
Skolon said:
But I think we can be calm because if he is wrong the Earth stop to exist log time ago. In upper atmosphere exist much stronger collisions that LHC's. So, a lot of little BH were created in time.
Fear not Skolon. Black holes produced by the LHC will be tiny and harmless. Even if they don't evaporate, they won't eat the earth.
 
  • #10
Really? Why is that? Because are very little and have large speed, so it will escape from Earth gravitational attraction? Or else?
 
  • #11
Skolon said:
Really? Why is that? Because are very little and have large speed, so it will escape from Earth gravitational attraction? Or else?
Yes. They are tiny. They will not wander around vacuuming up the earth. Since they have a small mass, they have a tiny event horizon. Of course, if a hapless electron meanders into the path of the BH, it will get sucked in. And yes, eventually we can expect the BH to just wander off into space. It might gorge itself on elementary particles before this happens, but nothing more significant.
 
  • #12
bapowell said:
It's possible that primordial black holes (PBH) formed out of the initial density perturbations set up by inflation. Black holes would result from regions in the universe with comparatively large overdensities (or comparatively small expansion rates). In most models, these black holes begin to form when the seed perturbation re-enters the horizon after inflation -- and so the mass of the black hole is characteristic of the size of particle horizon at that time. This gives a fairly wide range of possible black hole masses: those formed early (just after the Planck time) are just fractions of a gram, however, those formed later can be much larger ([tex]10^5[/tex] solar masses).

Light black holes (with masses less than [tex]10^{15}[/tex] grams) will have evaporated via Hawking radiation by the current epoch. However, those heavier guys may well still be around. So, finally getting to your question, I think yes, there has been some work done on determining whether primordial black holes might contribute (in part or in whole) to the dark matter density. Here are two references I fished off spires (I haven't looked them over closely, admittedly).

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0302035"

http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.2308"

The claim that PBH's make up all the dark matter seems a little difficult to make work, since it's pretty clear that we need some form of weakly interacting dark matter to get structure formation to work right. But, perhaps they suggest a way around this in the paper...

So, what i read so far is that we cannot really know for certain if black holes formed in the early universe until it is fully tested. But, the next approaching question would be: How would these black holes distribute themselves in the universe today if they were created in the beginning stages of the universe?

Note: I am assuming that the black holes were created in the initial stages in the formation of the universe.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #13
E=mc^84 said:
So, what i read so far is that we cannot really know for certain if black holes formed in the early universe until it is fully tested. But, the next approaching question would be: How would these black holes distribute themselves in the universe today if they were created in the beginning stages of the universe?

Note: I am assuming that the black holes were created in the initial stages in the formation of the universe.

Thanks for the article, it is very interesting...
 
  • #14
bapowell said:
It's possible that primordial black holes (PBH) formed out of the initial density perturbations set up by inflation. Black holes would result from regions in the universe with comparatively large overdensities (or comparatively small expansion rates). In most models, these black holes begin to form when the seed perturbation re-enters the horizon after inflation -- and so the mass of the black hole is characteristic of the size of particle horizon at that time. This gives a fairly wide range of possible black hole masses: those formed early (just after the Planck time) are just fractions of a gram, however, those formed later can be much larger ([tex]10^5[/tex] solar masses).

Light black holes (with masses less than [tex]10^{15}[/tex] grams) will have evaporated via Hawking radiation by the current epoch. However, those heavier guys may well still be around. So, finally getting to your question, I think yes, there has been some work done on determining whether primordial black holes might contribute (in part or in whole) to the dark matter density. Here are two references I fished off spires (I haven't looked them over closely, admittedly).

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0302035"

http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.2308"

The claim that PBH's make up all the dark matter seems a little difficult to make work, since it's pretty clear that we need some form of weakly interacting dark matter to get structure formation to work right. But, perhaps they suggest a way around this in the paper...

Thanks for the article, it is very interesting...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #15
Skolon said:
Is suppose that LHC will create some mini black holes. Then we will really know is Hawking radiation exist. I very hope he was right! But if he's not?
Well, it's pretty darned unlikely that black holes will be produced at the LHC.

Skolon said:
But I think we can be calm because if he is wrong the Earth stop to exist log time ago. In upper atmosphere exist much stronger collisions that LHC's. So, a lot of little BH were created in time.
Basically, if it were possible for the LHC to produce black holes, then lots of them would be produced in our atmosphere every day.
 
  • #16
Chalnoth said:
Well, it's pretty darned unlikely that black holes will be produced at the LHC.


Basically, if it were possible for the LHC to produce black holes, then lots of them would be produced in our atmosphere every day.



How would these black holes distribute themselves in the universe today if they were created in the beginning stages of the universe?

Note: I am assuming that the black holes were created in the initial stages in the formation of the universe.
 
  • #17
E=mc^84 said:
How would these black holes distribute themselves in the universe today if they were created in the beginning stages of the universe?
Well, they would behave much like dark matter, but there's the problem that there's really no way there could be so many that they would vastly outnumber the normal matter. We should also be able to detect them evaporating, which we haven't yet.
 
  • #18
Chalnoth said:
Well, it's pretty darned unlikely that black holes will be produced at the LHC.


Basically, if it were possible for the LHC to produce black holes, then lots of them would be produced in our atmosphere every day.

Its not quite that simple, there are many papers on TeV scale black holes in colliders and collisions scattered around hep-ph or hep-th. It is in principle possible, particularly in the context of extra dimension models and so forth. You would see a rather spectacular display of Kaluza-Klein modes.

Whats impossible is for such objects to exist and simultaneously avoid evaporation, since its the very same semiclassical analysis that predicts their existence that also leads directly to Hawking radiation.
 
  • #19
Whats impossible is for such objects to exist and simultaneously avoid evaporation, since its the very same semiclassical analysis that predicts their existence that also leads directly to Hawking radiation.
That's interesting.
I've been discussing with an LHC-critic (maybe you know him , O.E. Rössler, who denies the existence of Hawking radiation) two years ago, and just a few weeks ago he contacted me again.
Since my QM is rather ...limited, I'd appreciate if you could point me to some basic papers on the connection between creation and evaporation.
 
  • #20
sylas said:
It's a theoretical consequence of what we think physics is like. We don't have a black hole available to test, but it would break some pretty fundamental ideas in physics if there was no Hawking radiation.

In particular, if black holes didn't radiate energy, this would imply that they would have no temperature. If they had no temperature they would have no entropy. If they had no entropy then you could toss stuff into it, and the entropy of the universe would decrease. If that happened, you'd violate the second law of thermodynamics.
 
  • #21
twofish-quant said:
In particular, if black holes didn't radiate energy, this would imply that they would have no temperature. If they had no temperature they would have no entropy. If they had no entropy then you could toss stuff into it, and the entropy of the universe would decrease. If that happened, you'd violate the second law of thermodynamics.


I agree:)
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 29 ·
Replies
29
Views
3K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
3K
  • Featured
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
6K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
1K
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
6K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
4K