Scientists say black holes can form through more than one process, including the collapse of massive stars and a different mechanism proposed for primordial black holes (PBHs). PBHs are hypothetical black holes thought to form soon after the Big Bang when regions of early matter collapse under their own gravity. Although they have been theorized for decades and are sometimes suggested as a possible explanation for some “missing mass” attributed to dark matter, researchers have not directly observed PBHs.
A new analysis, described in a pre-print posted to arXiv by researchers from Oakland University in Michigan and Rice University in Texas, re-examines the idea that certain PBHs could be present and detectable through their influence on the cosmic gamma-ray background. The article frames the work as challenging PBH explanations, at least for a specific category of PBHs discussed in relation to “asteroid-mass” black holes and gamma-ray emission. While the outlet accounts emphasize uncertainty and the lack of direct detection so far, both sources point to the same theme: recent modeling results suggest constraints that may limit whether this particular type of PBH can account for observed gamma-ray features.
