Black Hole Production Research Articles

Squeezed bispectrum and one-loop corrections in transient constant-roll inflation

In canonical single-field inflation, the production of primordial black holes (PBH) requires a transient violation of the slow-roll condition. The transient ultra slow-roll inflation is an example of such scenarios, and more generally, one can consider the transient constant-roll inflation. We investigate the squeezed bispectrum in the transient constant-roll inflation and find that Maldacena's consistency relation holds for a sufficiently long-wavelength mode, whereas it is violated for modes around the peak scale for the non-attractor case. We also demonstrate how the one-loop corrections are modified compared to the case of the transient ultra slow-roll inflation, focusing on representative one-loop terms originating from a time derivative of the second slow-roll parameter in the cubic action. We find that the perturbativity requirement on those terms does not rule out the production of PBH from the transient constant-roll inflation.Therefore, it is a simple counterexample of the recently claimed no-go theorem of PBH production from single-field inflation.

Primordial black hole production in natural and hilltop inflation

We consider the possibility of primordial black hole, PBH, formation sourced by a rise in the power spectrum. The power spectrum becomes large at late times due to decay of the inflaton into vectors through a ϕFF̃ coupling. Two background inflaton models which are well supported by current Planck data are considered, natural inflation and hilltop inflation. Many of the papers considering formation of PBHs have considered a peaked power spectrum where Pζ gets small again at late times. This avoids overproducing miniature PBHs which would evaporate and could violate BBN and CMB bounds. This paper examines the other way of avoiding these bounds, producing PBHs from perturbations formed closer to the end of inflation such that the PBHs are too small to violate these bounds. This has the advantage of allowing for simpler models in that no additional feature is needed to be added to evade constraints. Although these black holes would have evaporated, they can be close to without exceeding current BBN bounds, making it possible the signature will be revealed in the future. We calculate how the various model parameters affect the mass and number of PBHs produced. Any evidence for PBHs sourced from an inflationary power spectrum would provide evidence for inflation on a drastically different energy scale from the CMB, and thus would be highly valuable in answering what occurred during inflation.

Production of Primordial Black Holes in Improved E-Models of Inflation

E-type α-attractor models of single-field inflation were generalized further in order to accommodate production of primordial black holes (PBHs) via adding a near-inflection point to the inflaton scalar potential at smaller scales, in good agreement with measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. A minimal number of new parameters were used but their fine-tuning was maximized in order to increase the possible masses of PBHs formed during an ultra-slow-roll phase, leading to a large enhancement in the power spectrum of scalar (curvature) perturbations by 6 or 7 orders of magnitude against the power spectrum of perturbations observed in CMB. It was found that extreme fine-tuning of the parameters in our models can lead to the formation of moon-sized PBHs, with masses of up to 1026 g, still in agreement with CMB observations. Quantum corrections are known to lead to the perturbative upper bound on the amplitude of large scalar perturbations responsible for PBH production. The quantum (one-loop) corrections in our models were found to be suppressed by one order of magnitude for PBHs with masses of approximately 1019 g, which may form the whole dark matter in the Universe.

Anomalies, the Dark Universe and Matter-Antimatter asymmetry

I review a (3+1)-dimensional, string-inspired cosmological model with gravitational anomalies (of Chern-Simons (CS) type) at early epochs, and a totally-antisymmetric torsion, dual to a massless axion-like field (“gravitational axion”), which couples to the CS term. Under appropriate conditions, primordial gravitational waves can condense, leading to a condensate of the CS anomaly term. As a consequence, one obtains inflation in this theory, of running-vacuum-model (RVM) type, without the need for external inflatons. At the end of the inflationary era, chiral fermionic matter is generated, whose gravitational anomalies cancel the primordial ones. On the other hand, chiral anomalies of gauge type, which are also generated by the chiral matter, remain present during the post-inflationary epochs and become responsible for the generation of a non-perturbative mass for the torsion-related gravitational axion, which, in this way, might play the rôle of a Dark Matter component of geometrical origin. Moreover, in this model, stringy non-perturbative effects during the RVM inflationary phase generate periodic structures for the potential of axion-like particles that arise due to compactification, and co-exist with the gravitational axions. Such periodic potential modulations may lead to an enhanced production of primordial black holes during inflation, which in turn affects the profile of the generated gravitational waves during the radiation era, with potentially observable consequences. This model also entails an unconventional mechanism for Leptogenesis, due to Lorentz-violating backgrounds of the gravitational axions that are generated during inflation, as a consequence of the anomaly condensates, and remain undiluted in the radiation era.

Signatures of a High Temperature QCD Transition in the Early Universe.

Beyond-Standard-Model extensions of QCD could result in quark and gluon confinement occurring well above at temperature around the GeV scale. These models can also alter the order of the QCD phase transition. Therefore, the enhanced production of primordial black holes (PBHs) that can accompany the change in relativistic degrees of freedom at the QCD transition could favor the production of PBHs with mass scales smaller than the Standard Model QCD horizon scale. Consequently, and unlike PBHs associated with a standard GeV-scale QCD transition, such PBHs can account for all the dark matter abundance in the unconstrained asteroid-mass window. This links beyond-Standard-Model modifications of QCD physics over a broad range of unexplored temperature regimes (around 10-10^{3} TeV) with microlensing surveys searching for PBHs. Additionally, we discuss implications of these models for gravitational wave experiments. We show that a first-order QCD phase transition at around 7TeV is consistent with the Subaru Hyper-Suprime Cam candidate event, while a transition of around 70GeV is consistent with OGLE candidate events and could also account for the claimed NANOGrav gravitational wave signal.

Search for heavy resonances and quantum black holes in eμ, eτ, and μτ final states in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

A search is reported for heavy resonances and quantum black holes decaying into eμ, eτ, and μτ final states in proton-proton collision data recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC during 2016–2018 at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. The eμ, eτ, and μτ invariant mass spectra are reconstructed, and no evidence is found for physics beyond the standard model. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level on the product of the cross section and branching fraction for lepton flavor violating signals. Three benchmark signals are studied: resonant τ sneutrino production in R parity violating supersymmetric models, heavy Z′ gauge bosons with lepton flavor violating decays, and nonresonant quantum black hole production in models with extra spatial dimensions. Resonant τ sneutrinos are excluded for masses up to 4.2TeV in the eμ channel, 3.7TeV in the eτ channel, and 3.6TeV in the μτ channel. A Z′ boson with lepton flavor violating couplings is excluded up to a mass of 5.0TeV in the eμ channel, up to 4.3Te V in the eτ channel, and up to 4.1TeV in the μτ channel. Quantum black holes in the benchmark model are excluded up to the threshold mass of 5.6TeV in the eμ channel, 5.2TeV in the eτ channel, and 5.0TeV in the μτ channel. In addition, model-independent limits are extracted to allow comparisons with other models for the same final states and similar event selection requirements. The results of these searches provide the most stringent limits available from collider experiments for heavy particles that undergo lepton flavor violating decays.

PeV-scale leptogenesis, gravitational waves, and black holes from a SUSY-breaking phase transition

Supersymmetry is a highly motivated theoretical framework, whose scale of breaking may be at PeV energies, to explain null searches at the Large Hadron Collider. SUSY breaking through a first order phase transition may have occurred in the early universe, leading to potential gravitational wave signals. Constructing a realistic model for gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, we show that such a transition can also induce masses for heavy right-handed neutrinos and sneutrinos, whose CP-violating decays give leptogenesis at the PeV scale, and a novel mechanism of neutrino mass generation at one loop. For the same models we predict the possible gravity wave signals, and we study the possibility of production of primordial black holes during the phase transition.

Large deviations in the early Universe

Fluctuations play a critical role in cosmology. They are relevant across a range of phenomena from the dynamics of inflation to the formation of structure. In many cases, these fluctuations are coarse grained and follow a Gaussian distribution as a consequence of the Central Limit Theorem. Yet, some classes of observables are dominated by rare fluctuations and are sensitive to the details of the underlying microphysics. In this paper, we argue that the Large Deviation Principle can be used to diagnose when one must to appeal to the fundamental description. Concretely, we investigate the regime of validity for the Fokker-Planck equation that governs Stochastic Inflation. For typical fluctuations, this framework leads to the central limit-type behavior expected of a random walk. However, fluctuations in the regime of the Large Deviation Principle are determined by instanton-like saddle points accompanied by a new energy scale. When this energy scale is above the UV cutoff of the EFT, the tail is only calculable in the microscopic description. We explicitly demonstrate this phenomenon in the context of determining the phase transition to eternal inflation, the distribution of scalar field fluctuations in de Sitter, and the production of primordial black holes.

Hybrid α-attractors, primordial black holes and gravitational wave backgrounds

We investigate the two-stage inflation regime in the theory of hybrid cosmological α-attractors. The spectrum of inflationary perturbations is compatible with the latest Planck/BICEP/Keck Array results, thanks to the attractor properties of the model. However, at smaller scales, it may have a very high peak of controllable width and position, leading to a copious production of primordial black holes (PBH) and generation of a stochastic background of gravitational waves (SGWB).

Fitting Power Spectrum of Scalar Perturbations for Primordial Black Hole Production during Inflation

A simple phenomenological fit for the power spectrum of scalar (curvature) perturbations during inflation is proposed to analytically describe slow roll of inflaton and formation of primordial black holes (PBH) in the early universe, in the framework of single-field models. The fit is given by a sum of the power spectrum of slow-roll inflation, needed for a viable description of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation in agreement with Planck/BICEP/Keck measurements, and the log-normal (Gaussian) fit for the power spectrum enhancement (peak) needed for efficient PBH production, in the leading (model-independent) approximation. The T-type α-attractor models are used to get the simple CMB power spectrum depending upon the e-folds as the running variable. The location and height of the peak are chosen to yield the PBH masses in the asteroid-size window allowed for the whole (current) dark matter. We find the restrictions on the peak width.

Anatomy of single-field inflationary models for primordial black holes

We construct an analytically solvable simplified model that captures the essential features for primordial black hole (PBH) production in most models of single-field inflation. The construction makes use of the Wands duality between the constant-roll (or slow-roll) and the preceding ultra-slow-roll phases and can be realized by a simple inflaton potential of two joined parabolas. Within this framework, it is possible to formulate explicit inflationary scenarios consistent with the CMB observations and copious production of PBHs of arbitrary mass. We quantify the variability of the shape of the peak in the curvature power spectrum in different inflationary scenarios and discuss its implications for probing PBHs with scalar-induced gravitational wave backgrounds. We find that the COBE/Firas μ-distortion constraints exclude the production of PBHs heavier than 104 M ⊙ in single-field inflation.

Primordial black holes and gravitational waves from nonminimally coupled supergravity inflation

We study the formation of primordial black holes and the generation of gravitational waves in a class of cosmological models that are direct supersymmetric analogs of the observationally favored nonminimally coupled Higgs inflation model. It is known that this type of model naturally includes multiple scalar fields which may be regarded as the inflaton. For the sake of simplicity we focus on the case where the inflaton field space is two dimensional. We analyze the multifield dynamics and find the region of parameters that gives copious production of primordial black holes that may comprise a significant part of the present dark matter abundance. We also compute the spectrum of the gravitational waves and discuss their detectability by means of future ground-based and space-borne gravitational wave observatories.

Primordial black hole formation during a strongly coupled crossover

The final mass distribution of primordial black holes is sensitive to the equation of state of the Universe at the scales accessible by the power spectrum. Motivated by the presence of phase transitions in several beyond the Standard Model theories, some of which are strongly coupled, we analyze the production of primordial black holes during such phase transitions, which we model using the gauge/gravity duality. We focus in the (often regarded as physically uninteresting) case for which the phase transition is just a smooth crossover. We find an enhancement of primordial black hole production in the range $M_{\rm{PBH}}\in[10^{-16},10^{-6}]M_{\odot}$.

Observational Evidence for Cosmological Coupling of Black Holes and its Implications for an Astrophysical Source of Dark Energy

Observations have found black holes spanning 10 orders of magnitude in mass across most of cosmic history. The Kerr black hole solution is, however, provisional as its behavior at infinity is incompatible with an expanding universe. Black hole models with realistic behavior at infinity predict that the gravitating mass of a black hole can increase with the expansion of the universe independently of accretion or mergers, in a manner that depends on the black hole’s interior solution. We test this prediction by considering the growth of supermassive black holes in elliptical galaxies over 0 < z ≲ 2.5. We find evidence for cosmologically coupled mass growth among these black holes, with zero cosmological coupling excluded at 99.98% confidence. The redshift dependence of the mass growth implies that, at z ≲ 7, black holes contribute an effectively constant cosmological energy density to Friedmann’s equations. The continuity equation then requires that black holes contribute cosmologically as vacuum energy. We further show that black hole production from the cosmic star formation history gives the value of ΩΛ measured by Planck while being consistent with constraints from massive compact halo objects. We thus propose that stellar remnant black holes are the astrophysical origin of dark energy, explaining the onset of accelerating expansion at z ∼ 0.7.

Probing first-order electroweak phase transition via primordial black holes in the effective field theory

We investigate production of primordial black holes from first-order electroweak phase transition in the framework of the nearly aligned Higgs effective field theory, in which non-decoupling quantum effects are properly described. Since the mass of such primordial black holes is evaluated to be about 10−5 of the solar mass, current and future microlensing observations such as Subaru HSC, OGLE, PRIME and Roman Space Telescope may be able to probe the electroweak phase transition. We study parameter regions where primordial black holes can be produced by the first-order electroweak phase transition, and explore their detectability at these observations. Complementarity of primordial black hole observations, gravitational wave observations and collider experiments is also discussed for testing the nature of the electroweak phase transition.

Quantum corrections to pair production of charged black holes in de Sitter space

We compute Euclidean action of charged de Sitter black holes in four dimensional gravitational Euler-Heisenberg model. It turns out that the action of a general Euclidean dyonically charged black hole is still controlled by the total entropy contributed by the black hole outer horizon and the cosmological horizon. For smooth configurations, the Euclidean action can be interpreted as the black hole production rate in de Sitter space. We show thatthe 4-derivative couplings break the symmetry between the production rate of the purely electric black hole and that of the purely magnetic black hole. Although electromagnetic duality is no longer a symmetry, it induces a transformation on the 4-derivative couplings, mapping the physical quantities of a purely electric black hole to those of a purely magnetic black hole and vice versa. We also observe that under the same transformation, unitarity constraints on the 4-derivative couplings remain invariant.

Enhancing gravitational wave anisotropies with peaked scalar sources

Gravitational wave (GW) backgrounds of cosmological origin are expected to be nearly isotropic, with small anisotropies resembling those of the cosmic microwave background. We analyse the case of a scalar-induced GW background and clarify in the process the relation between two different approaches to calculating GW anisotropies. We focus on GW scenarios sourced by a significantly peaked scalar spectrum, which are frequently considered in the context of primordial black holes production. We show that the resulting GW anisotropies are characterised by a distinct frequency dependence. We explore the observational consequences concentrating on a GW background enhanced in the frequency band of space-based GW detectors. We study the detectability of the signal through both cross-correlations among different space-based GW detectors, and among GW and CMB experiments.

Black hole production, eternal inflation, and information in quasi-de Sitter space

When the slow-roll parameter ϵ H is smaller than H 2/M Pl 2, the quantum fluctuations of the inflaton after the horizon crossing are large enough to realize eternal inflation. Whereas they do not generate a sufficient amount of density fluctuation of the inflaton to produce the black hole in quasi-de Sitter space, they can also generate the sizeable density fluctuation of the radiation when the number of degrees of freedom increases rapidly in time, as predicted by the distance conjecture. We argue that the condition that the density fluctuation of the radiation is not large enough to produce the black hole until the end of inflation is equivalent to the no eternal inflation condition. When the radiation emitted by the horizon does not produce the black hole, even if the number of degrees of freedom increases in time, the information paradox does not arise for ϵ H larger than 10-7 (H 2/M Pl 2) and time scale shorter than 104 (M Pl/H 2). Regardless of the presence of the information paradox, a static observer cannot retrieve a sufficient amount of information, which is consistent with the complementarity.

Primordial black-hole dark matter via warm natural inflation

We report on a study of the natural warm inflationary paradigm (WNI). We show two important new results arise in this model. One is that the observational constraints on the primordial power spectrum from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can be satisfied without going beyond the Planck scale of the effective field theory. The second is that WNI can inevitably provide perfect conditions for the production of primordial black holes (PBHs) in the golden window of black-hole mass range (10−16−10−11M⊙) where it can account for all of the dark matter content of the universe while satisfying observational constraints.

Production of primordial black holes via single field inflation and observational constraints

In a class of single field models of inflation, the idea of primordial black holes (PBHs) production is studied. In this case, the dynamics on small cosmological scales differs significantly from that of the large scales probed by the observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB). This difference becomes a virtue in producing correct physical ambiance for the seeds required to produce PBHs. Thus, once the perturbed scales re-enter the horizon of our Universe during the later epochs of radiation domination and subsequent matter domination, these seeds collapses to produce PBHs. We have shown, in this class of model, depending on the model parameters and the class defining set parameters, one can have PBHs formed for a vast mass ranges from 10^{-18} to 10^{-6} solar mass (M _odot ). We have also shown, for a particular class of model, the total dark matter density today can be attributed to the PBHs density. The vast range of the mass depending on the class parameter, gives ample opportunity to study enriched phenomenological implications associated with this model to probe the nascent Universe dynamics.