PRIMORDIAL BLACK HOLES AS THE LINK BETWEEN MACROPHYSICS AND MICROPHYSICS

by Bernard Carr (School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary, University of London)

Tuesday 19 Apr 2016, 13:15 → 14:30 Europe/Stockholm

FA31

Primordial black holes may have formed in the early stages of the big bang. They could span an enormous range of masses - from the Planck scale to the scale of the observable universe - and they are the only black holes for which quantum effects may be important. Although there is still no compelling evidence for their existence, their wide variety of possible astrophysical and particle physical consequences means that - like the big bang itself - they provide a vital link between the macrophysical and microphysical domains. In particular, they offer a unique probe of the early universe, gravitational collapse, high energy physics, hidden dimensions and quantum gravity. They may also be relevant to the dark matter problem, the origin of cosmic rays, the formation of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei, and the existence of a multiverse. (host: Florian Kühnel)