Dark matter from eternal inflation express

Original: "Dark Matter from Eternity"
· G. Franciolini, M. Peloso, A. Riotto
arXiv:2602.08338 · 2026-02-09 · CC BY 4.0 · 1 min
All dark matter could be a swarm of tiny black holes born from the universe's eternal expansion.

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The universe began with the Big Bang and subsequent inflation — a rapid expansion. Alan Guth suggested that in some regions this growth never stopped. They remained ‘underbaked’ pockets of eternal expansion forever. In our space, such regions manifested as primordial black holes — clumps of unimaginable density. Their collective mass is dark matter — the invisible scaffolding holding galaxies together.

The process resembled dough rising: while most of it smoothed into a uniform loaf, separate bubbles stayed inside, never merging with the crumb. These inclusions are the black holes. Some are smaller than an atom yet weigh as much as a mountain. Their birth shook the very fabric of reality, generating a faint but pervasive hum — gravitational waves. This echo of the Big Bang can still be caught by sensitive detectors of the future.

A single primordial black hole can be smaller than an atom but weigh as much as a mountain.

\Omega_\text{GW} h^2 \simeq 10^{-10}
The ratio of gravitational wave energy to the critical density of the universe—one ten-billionth.
Scientists
Stephen HawkingJacob BekensteinFritz ZwickyVera RubinKarl SchwarzschildSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Concepts
eternal inflation primordial black hole early universe black holes expansion of the universe inflation dark energy dark matter primordial gravitational waves quantum cosmological inhomogeneities structure growth cosmic structure formation galaxy formation inflationary cosmology big bang Hawking area theorem radiation dominated era general relativity singularity inflaton cosmology