After the analyzed data from hundreds of supernovae, the scientists at the University of California Berkeley concluded that, in space, there are not so many primordial black holes to account for the estimated total amount of dark matter in the Universe. And, while massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) can still represent about 84% of the mass of the Universe, the astrophysicists need to examine and explore the cosmos in a different manner to fully comprehend the dark matter situation.
The researchers carried on statistical analysis on several hundred bright supernovae recorded over the past four years, searching for any signs of distortion. Their goal was to find a unique type of hidden mass dimpling space, which could only be the result of primordial black holes which are those black holes that formed right after the Big Bang, at least in theory.
According to a hypothesis on primordial black holes, these compact black hole with masses slightly bigger the one-tenth of our Sun, are behind the dark matter in the Universe.
Primordial black holes are not behind the dark matter in the Universe
Eight out of all those analyzed supernovae should’ve been brighter than expected by scientists, in case primordial black holes were to be indeed behind the dark matter in the Universe. However, the astrophysicists found nothing like that, so they estimated that, if those space objects are real, they might explain only 40% of the total amount of dark matter.
“I can imagine it being two types of black holes, very heavy and very light ones, or black holes and new particle. But in that case one of the components is orders of magnitude heavier than the other, and they need to be produced in comparable abundance,” stated the study’s leading author, Miguel Zumalacarregui.
One thing is now certain, however, according to scientists, that primordial black holes are not behind the dark matter in the Universe.
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