According to new research, we may be able to test one of Stephen Hawking's most controversial theories.
In the 70s, Stephen Hawking proposed that dark matter may be made of black holes from the earliest moments of the Bigbang.
The existence of dark matter and the appearance of the largest black holes in the universe are explained by a new theory developed by three astronomer.
The study co-author said that she was excited about the idea because it unified the two challenging problems she was working on. New instruments, including the James Webb Space Telescope that just launched, could provide data needed to assess the famous notion.
Stephen Hawking has ideas about black holes.
Dark matter floats around in the universe, but it doesn't interact with light in any way.
It's tempting to think that black holes are to blame. Black holes are notoriously dark, so filling a galaxy with black holes could explain all the observations of dark matter.
Black holes are only formed after massive stars die, and collapse under the weight of their own gravity. Making black holes requires a lot of stars, which is normal matter. There isn't enough normal matter to make dark matter.
Sleeping giants.
That's where he came in. Black holes were formed in the chaotic environment of the earliest moments of the Big bang. There, pockets of matter could spontaneously reach densities needed to make black holes, flooding the universe before the first stars twinkled. The black holes might be responsible for dark matter. The idea was interesting, but most scientists focused on finding a new particle to explain dark matter.
Models of black hole formation ran into observational issues. The leftover radiation from the early universe is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background. The theory only worked when the number and size of ancient black holes were limited.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory found its first pair of colliding black holes in 2015. One way to explain the large mass of the two black holes was to say they formed in the early universe, not in the hearts of dying stars.
A simple solution.
Natarajan, Gnther Hasinger and the University of Miami took a deep dive into the theory of primordial black holes, exploring how they might explain the dark matter and possibly resolve other challenges.
primordial black holes have to be within a certain mass range to pass observational tests. The researchers assumed that the primordial black holes had a mass that was more than the sun's. They constructed a model of the universe that was made up of light black holes, and then they looked for observational clues that could be used to rule out the model.
The team found that primordial black holes could be seeding the first stars, the first galaxies, and the first supermassive black holes. The processes of formation and growth that we observe in the present-day universe may be too quick to be accounted for in the past.
Natarajan said that the seeds from which all the black holes form could be found in primordial black holes.
The theory doesn't require a zoo of new particles to explain dark matter.
The study shows that we can solve mysteries of modern cosmology without introducing new particles or new physics.
This idea is only a model, but it could be tested soon. The James Webb Space Telescope is designed to answer questions about the origins of stars and galaxies. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the next generation of gravitational wave detectors and is poised to reveal more about black holes.
The two observatories should give the astronomer enough information to piece together the story of the first stars and possibly the origins of dark matter.
Natarajan said that it was irresistible to explore the idea and that it had the potential to be validation fairly soon.
Live Science published the original article.
