Primordial Black Holes in the Cosmological Context and Transient Electromagnetic Signatures from Merging Black Hole Binaries
Abstract
The cosmological evolution of primordial black holes (PBHs) is presented via analysis of the accretion and evaporation histories of the holes. The ultimate end of any BH is evaporation -- a spectacular seconds-long burst of high-energy radiation and particles. The critical initial mass of a PBH undergoing current era evaporation is ∼510 trillion grams. A near-critical mass PBH will not accrete radiation or matter in sufficient quantity to retard its inevitable evaporation, if the hole remains within an average volume of the universe. The gravitational waves (GWs) from five BH binary merger events discovered by the LIGO/Virgo collaborations were BHs of a few to tens of solar masses merging at redshift z ∼ 0.1. It is plausible these systems began as PBHs within overdense regions of the Universe. However, it is difficult for isolated PBHs to become supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshift. A new type of electromagnetic (EM) counterpart is presented. During the inspiral of a SMBH binary system, copious amounts of GW and EM energy are injected into the surrounding interstellar medium. The injected EM energy produces a relativistic blastwave, which emits synchrotron radiation in a transient multiwavelength afterglow. A simultaneous detection of the GWs and afterglow emission will contribute insights into blastwave dynamics, the BH masses and angular momenta, and the inner galactic environment.
- Publication:
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Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018PhDT........53R
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics;Astronomy