Researchers Say That Primordial Black Holes Helped Create Gold In The Universe

The study of black holes has fascinated man ever since 1915, when the concept was first theorized. It has permeated popular culture through the entertainment world because of the wonder the idea holds. So, any new development in this sphere tends to be awaited with bated breath.

The science behind the origin of the black hole has been a fiercely debated topic among those who have dedicated their life to understanding these enigmatic presences.

While some theories have said that black holes were formed right after the big bang, others have argued they were formed with the death of the first star, millions of years after the formation of the galaxy.

Alexander Kusenko, a UCLA professor of physics, and Eric Cotner, a UCLA graduate student, have proposed an elegant idea tying several questions related to the origin and formation of black holes.

Man always knew about the presence of heavy metals like gold, silver, uranium in Earth and other planets in nearby galaxies. What was "embarrassing," according to Kusenko, was a lack of explanation about the origin of the heavy metals. Scientist had no clear understanding of how heavy metals came into being in the universe.

This study published in the journal Physical Letter Review claims that early primordial black holes formed right after the Big Bang could be responsible for the production of heavy metals in the Milky Way and several other galaxies.

"Scientists know that these heavy elements exist, but they're not sure where these elements are being formed," Kusenko said. "This has been really embarrassing."

The research suggests that when a primordial black hole comes across a neutron star, the interaction could lead to interesting galactic phenomenon. A neutron star is the remains of a supernova explosion which happens after a star dies.

The fusing of giant primordial black holes and neutron stars could have bestowed several galaxies in the universe with bling.

A primordial black hole consumes any neutron star that it comes across. This is a long drawn out — 10,000 year — but a steady celestial union which showers nearby bodies with gold and silver. As the neutron star enters the black hole, it shrinks. The spinning becomes progressively faster causing fragments of dead star dust to fly off. This neutron rich surface would have been the perfect environment for metals to fuse and form heavier metals.

The theory states that the initial expansion of the universe after the Big Bang released a field of energy. Energy clumps separated from the main field to form floating pockets of energy which gravitated toward each other. The combined energy produced could have been enough to form the first primordial black holes.

This unites recent findings of a massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy and the long-standing wonder of why there are no neutron stars present in the area. The primordial black holes formed could have interacted with the neutron stars and led to the Milky Way and the nearby galaxies getting heavy metals.

This theory could further the study of primordial black holes. The data obtained from nearby galaxies and heavy metal content in them could provide a comparative platform to establish the presence of primordial galaxy, origin of heavy metals and the lack of neutron stars in the centre of our galaxy.

Kusenko and his colleagues plan on collaborating with scientists at Princeton University to analyze computer simulations of the neutron star-black hole interaction. The byproducts of the simulations could provide important data to support this theory and enhance our knowledge of the dark pockets of our universe, dark matter and heavy metals.