New ideas on the formation and astrophysical detection of primordial black holes

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent novel scenarios for primordial black hole formation and discusses emerging detection strategies, including unique astrophysical signals like orphan kilonovae linked to fast radio bursts, highlighting their potential for identifying PBH dark matter.

Contribution

It introduces new ideas for PBH formation mechanisms and detection methods, emphasizing minimal new physics and innovative observational strategies.

Findings

New formation scenarios requiring minimal new physics

Detection strategies involving orphan kilonovae and fast radio bursts

Potential identification of PBH dark matter through unique signals

Abstract

Recently, a number of novel scenarios for primordial black hole (PBH) formation have been discovered. Some of them require very minimal new physics, some others require no new ingredients besides those already present in commonly considered models, such as supersymmetry. At the same time, new strategies have emerged for detection of PBHs. For example, an observation of an orphan kilonova unaccompanied by the gravitational waves signal of merging neutron stars, but associated with a fast radio burst, could be a smoking gun of PBH dark matter. We review some new ideas for PBH formation and detection.