Black holes could have formed just after the Big Bang

An alternative model of how the universe formed proposes that black holes could be created immediately after the Big Bang, which could explain what dark matter is and how supermassive black holes arose.

The study, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, suggests that primordial black holes, which would have existed since the beginning of the universe, could in turn form dark matter, which is still unknown and of which only some properties are known. .

Research shows that, “Without introducing new particles or new physics, we can solve mysteries of modern cosmology, from the nature of dark matter to the origin of supermassive black holes”, one of the authors pointed out, Nico Cappelluti, from the University of Miami (United States).

If the majority of black holes formed immediately after the Big Bang, may have started to merge in the early Universe, forming increasingly massive black holes over time.

“Black holes of different sizes remain a mystery. We do not understand how the supermassive type have been able to grow so much in the relatively short time since the Universe exists “, highlighted Günther Hasinger, Scientific Director of the European Space Agency (ESA) and also author of the study.

At the other end of the scale, there could also be very small black holes, as observations from the Gaia mission suggest. THAT, and if they do exist, they are too small to have formed from dying stars.

The future gravitational wave space observatory of the THAT, LISA, it could pick up the signals from those mergers if there are primordial black holes, and the smaller ones could simply be because they have not yet merged into larger ones.

According to this model, Universe it would be full of black holes everywhere and stars would begin to form around these clusters of “dark matter”, creating solar systems and galaxies over billions of years.

If the first stars actually formed around primordial black holes, “They would exist earlier in the Universe than expected by the standard model”.

“Primordial black holes, if they exist, could well be the seeds from which all black holes are formed, including the one in the center of the Milky Way”stated another of the authors, Priyamvada Natarajan, of the Yale university.

ESA’s Euclid mission, which will explore the Universe dark in more detail than ever, could play a role in the search for primordial black holes as candidates for dark matter.

Also, the new space telescope James Webb, a “Cosmic time machine” dating back more than 13 billion years, will shed more light on this mystery.

If the first stars and galaxies already formed in the call “Dark Age”The James Webb, which is scheduled to launch before the end of this year, should be able to see evidence of them, Günther added.