Primordial Black Holes

Understand

Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) are of interest in many cosmological contexts.

• PBHs lighter than about 1012 kg are predicted to be directly detectable by their Hawking radiation.
• This radiation should produce both a diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background from the cosmologically-averaged distribution of PBHs and gamma-ray burst signals from individual light black holes.
• The Fermi, Milagro, Veritas, HESS and HAWC observatories, in combination with new burst recognition methodologies, offer the greatest sensitivity for the detection of such black holes or placing limits on their existence.