We update the constraints on the fraction of the Universe going into primordial black holes in the mass range ${10}^{9}--{10}^{17}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{g}$ associated with the effects of their evaporations on big bang nucleosynthesis and the extragalactic photon background. We include for the first time all the effects of quark and gluon emission by black holes on these constraints and account for the latest observational developments. We then discuss the other constraints in this mass range and show that these are weaker than the nucleosynthesis and photon background limits, apart from a small range ${10}^{13}--{10}^{14}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{g}$, where the damping of cosmic microwave background anisotropies dominates. Finally we review the gravitational and astrophysical effects of nonevaporating primordial black holes, updating constraints over the broader mass range $1--{10}^{50}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{g}$.

New cosmological constraints on primordial black holes

Although the dark matter is usually assumed to be made up of some form of elementary particle, primordial black holes (PBHs) could also provide some of it. However, various constraints restrict the...

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-nucl-050520-125911

Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter: Recent Developments

We investigate the effect of nonevaporating primordial black holes (PBHs) on the ionization and thermal history of the universe. X-rays emitted by gas accretion onto PBHs modify the cosmic recombination history, producing measurable effects on the spectrum and anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Using the third-year WMAP data and COBE FIRAS data we improve existing upper limits on the abundance of PBHs with masses >0.1 M☉ by several orders of magnitude. The new upper limits still allow PBHs to be important for the origin of supermassive black holes and ultraluminous X-ray sources. Fitting WMAP3 data with cosmological models that do not allow for nonstandard recombination histories, as produced by PBHs or other early energy sources, may lead to an underestimate of the best-fit values of the amplitude of linear density fluctuations (σ8) and the scalar spectral index (ns). Cosmological parameter estimates are affected because models with PBHs allow for larger values of the Thomson scattering optical depth, whose correlation with other parameters may not be correctly taken into account when PBHs are ignored. Values of τe ~ 0.2, ns ~ 1, and σ8 ~ 0.9 are allowed at 95% CF. This result may relieve recent tension between WMAP3 data and clusters data on the value of σ8. PBHs may increase the primordial molecular hydrogen abundance by up to 2 orders of magnitude, this promoting cooling and star formation. The suppression of galaxy formation due to X-ray heating is negligible for models consistent with the CMB data. Thus, the formation rate of the first galaxies and stars would be enhanced by a population of PBHs.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/587831/pdf

Effect of Primordial Black Holes on the Cosmic Microwave Background and Cosmological Parameter Estimates

We update the constraints on the fraction of the Universe going into primordial black holes (PBHs) over the mass range $10^{-5}$--$10^{50}$ g. Those smaller than $\sim 10^{15}$ g would have evaporated by now due to Hawking radiation, so their abundance at formation is constrained by the effects of evaporated particles on big bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the Galactic and extragalactic $\gamma$-ray and cosmic ray backgrounds and the possible generation of stable Planck mass relics. PBHs larger than $\sim 10^{15}$ g are subject to a variety of constraints associated with gravitational lensing, dynamical effects, influence on large-scale structure, accretion and gravitational waves. We discuss the constraints on both the initial collapse fraction and the current fraction of the cold dark matter in PBHs at each mass scale but stress that many of the constraints are associated with observational or theoretical uncertainties and some are no longer applicable. We also consider indirect constraints associated with the amplitude of the primordial density fluctuations, such as second-order tensor perturbations and $\mu$-distortions arising from the effect of acoustic reheating on the CMB, but these only apply if PBHs are created from the high-$\sigma$ peaks of nearly Gaussian fluctuations. Finally we discuss how the constraints are modified if the PBHs have an extended mass function, this being relevant if PBHs provide some combination of the dark matter, the LIGO/Virgo coalescences and the seeds for cosmic structure.

Constraints on Primordial Black Holes

The Hubble expansion of galaxies, the 2.73 K black-body radiation background and the cosmic abundances of the light elements argue for a hot, dense origin of the universe - the standard big bang cosmology - and enable its evolution to be traced back fairly reliably to the nucleosynthesis era when the temperature was of O(1) MeV corresponding to an expansion age of O(1) s. All particles, known and hypothetical, would have been created at higher temperatures in the early universe and analyses of their possible effects on the abundances of the synthesized elements enable many interesting constraints to be obtained on particle properties. These arguments have usefully complemented laboratory experiments in guiding attempts to extend physics beyond the standard model, incorporating ideas such as supersymmetry, compositeness and unification. We first present a pedagogical account of relativistic cosmology and primordial nucleosynthesis, discussing both theoretical and observational aspects, and then proceed to examine such constraints in detail, in particular those pertaining to new massless particles and massive unstable particles. Finally, in a section aimed at particle physicists, we illustrate applications of such constraints to models of new physics.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/59/12/001/pdf

Big bang nucleosynthesis and physics beyond the standard model

A long-standing problem in cosmology has been to understand the origins of density inhomogeneities in the Universe. Calculations involving inhomogeneities have for the most part required the assumption of some initial spectrum of perturbations, which is inserted ‘by hand’. We present here a mechanism for the spontaneous creation of density perturbations during the transition in the early Universe from unconfined quark matter to hadronic matter. The subsequent evolution of these perturbations remains a problem for further study.

Matt Crawford

Papers

Spontaneous generation of density perturbations in the early Universe