A hierarchy of cosmic compact objects - without black holes

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new hierarchy of ultra-compact cosmic objects beyond black holes, based on sub-constituents, early universe fluctuations, and theoretical models, challenging the existence of black holes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hierarchy of cosmic objects, supported by theoretical and observational arguments, and questions the traditional black hole paradigm.

Findings

Arguments against black hole existence

Proposed hierarchy of compact objects

Potential observational signals of new objects

Abstract

We make the case for the existence of a, hitherto unknown and unobserved, hierarchy of ever more compact cosmic objects in the universe. This hypothesis is based on i) the assumption of "elementary" particle sub-constituents on several levels below the presently known, inspired by Glashow's "blooming desert", ii) the existence of nearly scale-invariant density fluctuations in the early universe, e.g. as predicted by inflationary models, iii) our own previous theoretical work showing that a class of objects considerably more compact than previously thought possible in astrophysics can exist. We also give several independent arguments strongly pointing towards the non-existence of black holes. Some brief suggestions on observational signals due to the hierarchy, both in collected astronomical data and in possible future observations, concludes the paper.