The primordial black hole mass spectrum

Abstract

This paper examines the mass spectrum of primordial black holes that should result if the early universe consisted of small density fluctuations superposed on a Friedmann background. It is shown that only a certain type of fluctuation favors the formation of primordial black holes and that, consequently, their spectrum should always have a particular form. Since both the fluctuations which arise naturally and the fluctuations which are often invoked to explain galaxy formation are of the required type, primordial black holes could have had an important effect on the evolution of the universe. Although primordial black holes are unlikely to have a critical density, big ones could have been sufficiently numerous to act as condensation nuclei for galaxies. Observational limits on the spectrum of primordial black holes place strong constraints on the magnitude of density fluctuations in the early universe and support the assumption that the early universe was nearly Friedmann rather than chaotic. Any model in which the early universe has a soft equation of state for a prolonged period is shown to be suspect, since primordial black holes probably form too prolifically in such a situation to be consistent with observation.