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Searching for small primordial black holes in planets, asteroids and here on Earth

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arxiv 2409.14321 v2 pith:4V7S5ZIX submitted 2024-09-22 gr-qc astro-ph.EPhep-th

classification gr-qcastro-ph.EPhep-th
keywords blackholeholeshollowleavesmallstructuresvery
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abstract

Small primordial black holes could be captured by rocky planets or asteroids, consume their liquid cores from inside and leave hollow structures. We calculate the surface density and surface tension of a hollow structure around a black hole and compare them with the density and compressive strength of various materials that appear in nature to find the allowed parameter space. For example, granite or iron can support a hollow asteroid/planetoid/moon of the size of up to $0.1 R_\oplus$. Along the same lines, future civilizations might build spherical structures around black holes to harvest their energy. Using the strongest material that we currently know how to make (multiwall carbon nanotube), to withstand gravity of one solar mass black hole, the shell must be constructed at distances larger than $10^4 R_\odot$. Alternatively, a fast black hole can leave a narrow tunnel in a solid object while passing through it. For example, a $10^{22}$g black hole should leave a tunnel with a radius of $0.1$ micron, which is large enough to be seen by an optical microscope. We could look for such micro-tunnels here on Earth in very old rocks, or even glass or other solid structures in very old buildings. While our estimate gives a very small probability of finding such tunnels, looking for them does not require expensive equipment and long preparation, and the payoff might be significant.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Machine Learning-Based Analytical Expressions for Gray-Body Factors and Application to Primordial Black Holes

    astro-ph.CO 2025-04 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Symbolic regression is used to derive compact error-function approximations for Schwarzschild gray-body factors, and the approximations reproduce the Hawking spectra and primordial black hole constraints from full num...

  2. Picolensing as a Probe of Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter

    astro-ph.HE 2024-11 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Asteroid-mass primordial black hole dark matter could be probed by picolensing of gamma-ray bursts, but only with detector separations of at least Earth-L2 distance once realistic GRB size uncertainties are included.

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