New constraints on primordial black holes abundance from femtolensing of gamma-ray bursts

TL;DR

This study uses gamma-ray burst data to search for femtolensing effects caused by primordial black holes, providing new constraints on their abundance in the mass range 5×10^{17} to 10^{20} grams and suggesting they are not a major dark matter component.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel femtolensing search method using Fermi GBM gamma-ray burst data to constrain primordial black hole abundance in a previously less explored mass range.

Findings

No femtolensing effects detected in the data.

Primordial black holes in the mass range 5×10^{17} - 10^{20} g are unlikely to be a major dark matter component.

Established new upper limits on primordial black hole abundance in this mass range.

Abstract

The abundance of primordial black holes is currently significantly constrained in a wide range of masses. The weakest limits are established for the small mass objects, where the small intensity of the associated physical phenomenon provides a challenge for current experiments. We used gamma- ray bursts with known redshifts detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) to search for the femtolensing effects caused by compact objects. The lack of femtolensing detection in the GBM data provides new evidence that primordial black holes in the mass range 5 \times 10^{17} - 10^{20} g do not constitute a major fraction of dark matter.