Stochastic inflation and primordial black holes

Understand

During inflation, vacuum quantum fluctuations are amplified and stretched to astrophysical distances.

• They give rise to fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarisation, and to large-scale structures in our universe.
• They can also trigger the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs).
• Such objects could provide the progenitors of the recently detected black-hole mergers, and constitute part or all of the dark matter.