1,016 research outputs found

    The Compton-Schwarzschild correspondence from extended de Broglie relations

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    The Compton wavelength gives the minimum radius within which the mass of a particle may be localized due to quantum effects, while the Schwarzschild radius gives the maximum radius within which the mass of a black hole may be localized due to classial gravity. In a mass-radius diagram, the two lines intersect near the Planck point (lP,mP)(l_P,m_P), where quantum gravity effects become significant. Since canonical (non-gravitational) quantum mechanics is based on the concept of wave-particle duality, encapsulated in the de Broglie relations, these relations should break down near (lP,mP)(l_P,m_P). It is unclear what physical interpretation can be given to quantum particles with energy E≫mPc2E \gg m_Pc^2 , since they correspond to wavelengths λ≪lP\lambda \ll l_P or time periods T≪tPT \ll t_P in the standard theory. We therefore propose a correction to the standard de Broglie relations, which gives rise to a modified Schr{\" o}dinger equation and a modified expression for the Compton wavelength, which may be extended into the region E≫mPc2E \gg m_Pc^2. For the proposed modification, we recover the expression for the Schwarzschild radius for E≫mPc2E \gg m_Pc^2 and the usual Compton formula for E≪mPc2E \ll m_Pc^2. The sign of the inequality obtained from the uncertainty principle reverses at m≈mPm \approx m_P, so that the Compton wavelength and event horizon size may be interpreted as minimum and maximum radii, respectively. We interpret the additional terms in the modified de Broglie relations as representing the self-gravitation of the wave packet.Comment: 40 pages, 7 figures, 2 appendices. Published version, with additional minor typos corrected (v3

    Primordial black holes from the QCD epoch: Linking dark matter, baryogenesis and anthropic selection

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    If primordial black holes (PBHs) formed at the quark-hadron epoch, their mass must be close to the Chandrasekhar limit, this also being the characteristic mass of stars. If they provide the dark matter (DM), the collapse fraction must be of order the cosmological baryon-to-photon ratio ∼10−9\sim 10^{-9}, which suggests a scenario in which a baryon asymmetry is produced efficiently in the outgoing shock around each PBH and then propagates to the rest of the Universe. We suggest that the temperature increase in the shock provides the ingredients for hot spot electroweak baryogenesis. This also explains why baryons and DM have comparable densities, the precise ratio depending on the size of the PBH relative to the cosmological horizon at formation. The observed value of the collapse fraction and baryon asymmetry depends on the amplitude of the curvature fluctuations which generate the PBHs and may be explained by an anthropic selection effect associated with the existence of galaxies. We propose a scenario in which the quantum fluctuations of a light stochastic spectator field during inflation generate large curvature fluctuations in some regions, with the stochasticity of this field providing the basis for the required selection. Finally, we identify several observational predictions of our scenario that should be testable within the next few years. In particular, the PBH mass function could extend to sufficiently high masses to explain the black hole coalescences observed by LIGO/Virgo.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures, published in MNRA
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