The universe had a secret life before the Big Bang
According to cosmology, the universe can “bounce” between contraction and expansion, thus the Big Bang may not have been the beginning. If true, such idea could change our understanding of the universe, including black holes and dark matter.
A recent study proposes that dark matter may be black holes produced during the universe's last contraction to current expansion phase before the Big Bang.
The gravitational waves generated during black hole development may be observable by future gravitational wave telescopes, confirming this dark matter generating model.
Dark matter, which doesn't reflect, absorb, or emit light, makes up around 80% of the universe, according to observations of star movements in galaxies and the cosmic microwave background. Despite its abundance, scientists have not discovered dark matter's composition.
The new study investigated a scenario in which dark matter is primordial black holes produced from density fluctuations during the universe's last contraction phase, shortly before its expansion. Their findings appeared in June's Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
Cosmos bounces
Traditional cosmology holds that the cosmos began with a singularity and a brief inflationary period. However, the current study examined non-singular matter bouncing cosmology, which proposes that the universe contracted first.
This bouncing cosmology shrank the universe by 50 orders of magnitude. Photons and other particles formed after the rebound, marking the Big Bang.
The matter density was so high near the rebound that quantum fluctuations created microscopic black holes, which could be dark matter.