Physicists have suggested that they have detected the explosion of a black hole

In their opinion, it is this event can explain the appearance of the "impossible" neutrino of ultra-high energy, registered on Earth in 2023, as well as shed light on the fundamental properties of the Universe - from Hawking radiation to the nature of dark matter.

We are talking about neutrinos with energies exceeding those of the Large Hadron Collider by about 100,000 times. So far in astrophysics, there has been no known source capable of producing a particle with such characteristics.

In a new paper published in Physical Review Letters, researchers have suggested that the particle could have arisen from the explosion of a so-called quasi-extreme primary black hole, a hypothetical object that formed shortly after the Big Bang.

Not all black holes are the same

Conventional black holes arise after the collapse of massive stars and are characterised by their enormous mass and stability. However, back in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking suggested the existence of primary black holes that may have appeared in the early universe due to density fluctuations.

Such objects, if they exist, could be much lighter than stellar black holes. According to Hawking's theory, they are capable of slowly losing mass by emitting particles, a process known as Hawking radiation. As they "evaporate," such black holes get hotter and hotter, which can eventually lead to an explosive release of energy.

"The smaller the black hole, the higher its temperature and the more intense the radiation," explains physicist Andrea Tamm, a co-author of the study. - In the case of primary black holes, this process can go into an uncontrolled phase, culminating in an explosion, which we can potentially observe."

Mysterious neutrino and observational contradictions

In 2023, the KM3NeT neutrino detector detected a particle with record energy. However, another major experiment, IceCube, not only failed to record the event, but also never observed a neutrino with comparable energy.

This discrepancy has puzzled scientists: if primary black holes do explode frequently, why aren't similar signals recorded regularly?

"Dark charge" as the missing link

The researchers proposed an explanation based on a more complex model of primary black holes - with a so-called dark charge. This hypothetical charge is an analogue of electromagnetism, but operates in the "dark sector" of physics and is linked to as yet undiscovered particles, including the "dark electron".

"Quasi-extreme primary black holes with dark charge behave differently from simpler models," explains physicist Joaquim Iguas Juan. - It is such objects that can explain why one experiment saw neutrinos and another did not."

According to the authors, their model is consistent with all available observational data and eliminates contradictions between different neutrino detectors.

Link to dark matter and new physics

The scientists believe the proposed theory could have much broader implications. If a dark charge does exist, the population of primary black holes could be much larger than previously thought, and they could explain all the dark matter in the universe.

Furthermore, confirmation of such a scenario would mean the experimental observation of Hawking radiation and would indicate the existence of new particles outside the Standard Model of physics.

"The registration of this neutrino has opened a new window on the Universe for us," notes Michael Baker, co-author of the study. - We may be on the verge of confirming several fundamental theories at once, which for decades remained purely hypothetical".