Work

Reduced Gravitational Wave Signal Reopens the Ultralight Primordial Black Hole Window

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The hot big bang may have emerged from evaporation of primordial black holes (PBHs) lighter than 10 9 g . Standard monochromatic treatments predict nearly simultaneous evaporation, abrupt reheating, and a large poltergeist scalar-induced gravitational wave signal. We confront this expectation with the irreducible collapse mass tail predicted by general relativity, d f PBH / d ln M ∝ M 3.78 , which smooths reheating, suppresses the signal by orders of magnitude, and reopens the ultralight PBH window.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/bgv1-lpq7

Authors: Yann Gouttenoire, Nicholas Leister, Pedro Schwaller

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Sorbonne Université

Language: English

Topic: Cosmology and Gravitation Theories

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,750

Funders: CERN, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft