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Primordial black hole formation during the QCD phase transition: threshold, mass distribution and abundance

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arxiv 2303.07980 v2 pith:DTYNMJXV submitted 2023-03-14 astro-ph.CO gr-qchep-ph

classification astro-ph.COgr-qchep-ph
keywords formationduringmassannihilationepochblackholetransition
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abstract

Primordial black hole (PBH) formation during cosmic phase transitions and annihilation periods, such as the QCD transition or the $e^+e^-$-annihilation, is thought to be particularly efficient due to a softening of the equation of state. We present a detailed numerical study of PBH formation during the QCD epoch in order to derive an accurate PBH mass function. We also briefly consider PBH formation during the $e^+e^-$-annihilation epoch. Our investigation confirms that, for nearly scale-invariant spectra, PBH abundances on the QCD scale are enhanced by a factor $\sim 10^3$ compared to a purely radiation dominated Universe. For a power spectrum producing an (almost) scale-invariant PBH mass function outside of the transition, we find a peak mass of $M_{\rm pbh}\approx 1.9 M_{\odot}$ with a fraction $f\approx 1.5\times 10^{-2}$ of the PBHs having a mass of $M_{\rm pbh} > 10 M_{\odot}$, possibly contributing to the LIGO-Virgo black hole merger detections. We point out that the physics of PBH formation during the $e^+e^-$-annihilation epoch is more complex as it is very close to the epoch of neutrino decoupling. We argue that neutrinos free-streaming out of overdense regions may actually hinder PBH formation.

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Cited by 11 Pith papers

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

  1. The statistics of curvature-profile dispersion in primordial black hole formation

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    Shape dispersion around the average peak profile is a genuine statistical ingredient: rare deformed curvature profiles can dominate primordial black hole formation when the power spectrum is broad or non-Gaussianity i...

  2. Probing Memory-Burdened Primordial Black Holes with High-Energy Neutrinos

    hep-ph 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    For memory-burdened primordial black holes, a log-normal mass function can produce neutrino abundance limits several orders of magnitude stronger than a monochromatic population with the same median mass, with current...

  3. Assessing the Impact of Instrumental Requirements on the Scientific Performance of the Einstein Telescope

    astro-ph.IM 2026-07 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    Degrading the Einstein Telescope's sensitivity in specific frequency bands hurts different science goals in predictable ways, but the mission remains scientifically strong even in the worst modelled cases.

  4. Primordial Black Hole mass growth from neutrinos during the radiation era

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    PBHs of ~1e3–1e7 solar masses can significantly grow by absorbing neutrinos before matter-radiation equality.

  5. Constraints on primordial black holes from the first part of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA fourth observing run

    astro-ph.CO 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    O4a gravitational-wave data give 95% CL upper limits f_PBH ~ 1e-2 to 1e-4 for monochromatic primordial black holes with mean masses 0.6-100 M_sun, with no evidence of a PBH merger component.

  6. The Irrelevance of Primordial Black Hole Clustering in the LVK mass range

    astro-ph.CO 2025-02 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    Initial spatial clustering of primordial black holes is irrelevant for binary mergers in the LVK mass range because FIRAS spectral-distortion constraints limit the clustering scale to below the merger-relevant separat...

  7. Are Primordial Black Holes Truly Fine-Tuned?

    astro-ph.CO 2025-12 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Using a normalized sensitivity measure γ=c/c̄, the authors find γ≈1 for three single-field ultra-slow-roll inflation models and conclude PBH production is not technically unnatural.

  8. Implications for Pulsar Timing Arrays of Sub-solar Black Hole Detections: From LVK to Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer

    astro-ph.CO 2025-08 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    A Bayesian analysis shows that a future sub-solar PBH detection would make the primordial SIGW interpretation of PTA data favored over the SMBH interpretation, but this preference is driven by the detection prior.

  9. Is the formation of primordial black holes from single-field inflation compatible with standard cosmology?

    astro-ph.CO 2024-12 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Producing primordial black holes in single-field inflation typically forces more than about 55 e-folds after CMB-mode exit, conflicting with standard reheating unless the model is retuned or reheating is exotic.

  10. Cosmological constraints on small-scale primordial non-Gaussianity

    astro-ph.CO 2025-05 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    Current pulsar-timing, CMB, BAO and PBH data constrain the small-scale local f_NL to -10.0 < f_NL < 1.2 for a monochromatic primordial power spectrum, with that constraint conditional on the spectral amplitude A_zeta = 10^-2.

  11. Searching for Dark Matter with MeVCube

    hep-ph 2025-01 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    Using Fisher forecasting, the author shows that a 2U to 12U MeVCube CubeSat could probe new dark matter parameter space for evaporating primordial black holes and MeV-scale decaying or annihilating dark matter.

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