Accounting for the minimal mass spread of primordial black holes from gravitational collapse suppresses the Poltergeist GW background to the level of generic scalar-induced signals and reopens ultra-light PBH parameter space.
Critical collapse and the primordial black hole initial mass function
6 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
abstract
It has normally been assumed that primordial black holes (PBHs) always form with mass approximately equal to the mass contained within the horizon at that time. Recent work studying the application of critical phenomena in gravitational collapse to PBH formation has shown that in fact, at a fixed time, PBHs with a range of masses are formed. When calculating the PBH initial mass function it is usually assumed that all PBHs form at the same horizon mass. It is not clear, however, that it is consistent to consider the spread in the mass of PBHs formed at a single horizon mass, whilst neglecting the range of horizon masses at which PBHs can form. We use the excursion set formalism to compute the PBH initial mass function, allowing for PBH formation at a range of horizon masses, for two forms of the density perturbation spectrum. First we examine power-law spectra with $n>1$, where PBHs form on small scales. We find that, in the limit where the number of PBHs formed is small enough to satisfy the observational constraints on their initial abundance, the mass function approaches that found by Niemeyer and Jedamzik under the assumption that all PBHs form at a single horizon mass. Second, we consider a flat perturbation spectrum with a spike at a scale corresponding to horizon mass $\sim 0.5 M_{\odot}$, and compare the resulting PBH mass function with that of the MACHOs (MAssive Compact Halo Objects) detected by microlensing observations. The predicted mass spectrum appears significantly wider than the steeply-falling spectrum found observationally.
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One-loop quantum vacuum polarization in Einstein-scalar critical collapse generates a horizon and finite mass gap, enforcing black hole formation even under arbitrary fine-tuning.
Semiclassical one-loop analysis of solvable near-critical collapse solutions shows quantum corrections selecting a Boulware-like state and producing a growing mode that yields a finite mass gap and a transition to Type I behavior, enforcing weak cosmic censorship.
High-energy neutrino telescopes constrain sub-asteroid mass primordial black holes with extended mass functions as dark matter, yielding limits slightly weaker than but independent of gamma-ray bounds.
In excursion set theory with colored noises, the low-mass tail of the PBH mass function differs from Carr's formula because correlated noises end the degeneracy of formation probabilities, though Carr's formula remains practical near the characteristic mass for smooth Fourier-space window functions.
Updated compilation shows PBHs are tightly constrained across 55 orders of magnitude in mass, ruling out dominant dark matter contributions except in narrow windows, with many limits carrying observational uncertainties.
citing papers explorer
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Gravitational Waves from Black Hole Reheating: The Scalar-Induced Component
Accounting for the minimal mass spread of primordial black holes from gravitational collapse suppresses the Poltergeist GW background to the level of generic scalar-induced signals and reopens ultra-light PBH parameter space.
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Quantum Critical Collapse Abhors a Naked Singularity
One-loop quantum vacuum polarization in Einstein-scalar critical collapse generates a horizon and finite mass gap, enforcing black hole formation even under arbitrary fine-tuning.
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Unveiling horizons in quantum critical collapse
Semiclassical one-loop analysis of solvable near-critical collapse solutions shows quantum corrections selecting a Boulware-like state and producing a growing mode that yields a finite mass gap and a transition to Type I behavior, enforcing weak cosmic censorship.
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High-energy neutrino constraints on primordial black holes as dark matter
High-energy neutrino telescopes constrain sub-asteroid mass primordial black holes with extended mass functions as dark matter, yielding limits slightly weaker than but independent of gamma-ray bounds.
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Primordial black holes in excursion set theory: Formation probabilities, mass functions, and window functions
In excursion set theory with colored noises, the low-mass tail of the PBH mass function differs from Carr's formula because correlated noises end the degeneracy of formation probabilities, though Carr's formula remains practical near the characteristic mass for smooth Fourier-space window functions.
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Constraints on Primordial Black Holes
Updated compilation shows PBHs are tightly constrained across 55 orders of magnitude in mass, ruling out dominant dark matter contributions except in narrow windows, with many limits carrying observational uncertainties.