Primordial black hole formation by vacuum bubbles. Part II

Abstract

The discoveries of LIGO/Virgo black holes in recent years have revitalized the study of primordial black holes. In this work we investigate a mechanism where primordial black holes are formed by vacuum bubbles that randomly nucleate during inflation through quantum tunneling. After inflation, these bubbles typically run into the ambient radiation fluid with a large Lorentz factor. In our previous work, we assumed the bubble fields are strongly coupled to the standard model particles so that the bubble wall is impermeable. Here we complete this picture by considering bubbles interacting with the fluid only through gravity. By studying the scenario in several limits, we found that black holes could form in either subcritical or supercritical regime. Depending on the model parameters, the resulting mass spectrum of the black holes could be wide or narrow, and may develop two peaks separated by a large mass range. With different spectra, these black holes may account for the LIGO/Virgo black holes, supermassive black holes, and may play an important role in dark matter.