Theory Group Seminar, 27 October 2020
Nicola Bellomo, UT-Austin
Searching for Primordial Black Holes
abstract
In recent years the idea that dark matter is composed by primordial black holes instead of particles regained interest. Testing the viability of this dark matter candidate requires several steps: determining their maximum abundance and if they can constitute the totality of dark matter, developing detection strategies and understanding how these objects formed in the Early Universe. In this talk I will cover some aspects of each of these topics. First I will show with worked examples what are the limitations in existing constraints on primordial black hole abundance, then I will present a possible way to detect them in the Late Universe and finally I will discuss what we can learn about their formation mechanism if we detect even a single primordial black hole.