Tiny Holes Grow in the Shadow of Dimensions ✎ express

Original: "Microscopic primordial black holes as macroscopic dark matter from large extra dimensions"
arXiv:2604.14871 · 2026-04-16 · arXiv non-exclusive · independent analysis · 2 min
In a world with extra dimensions, tiny black holes can absorb radiation faster than they evaporate and grow to the size of the Sun.

A tiny black hole the size of an atomic nucleus floats in the hot soup of the early universe. Normally, such a little one should quickly evaporate, releasing energy like a drop of water on a hot skillet. But if space is more complex than it seems and contains hidden dimensions, everything changes.

This study explores a universe where, in addition to the usual three dimensions, there are extra ones curled up into tiny rings. In such a geometry, a black hole of the same mass has a larger horizon: its "surface" is wider and its temperature is lower. So it evaporates more slowly than its four-dimensional sister. Meanwhile, the radiation around it hasn't gone anywhere: photons and particles fall onto the hole like snow on hot asphalt, and it begins to grow. This process becomes avalanche-like: the more massive the hole, the stronger it attracts matter, and growth accelerates.

In ordinary space, a black hole with a mass of 10¹² grams (like a small asteroid) would evaporate in seconds. With two extra dimensions, it lives long enough to absorb surrounding radiation and swell by billions of times.

The authors calculated this scenario and found that if, at the birth of the universe, very few such holes appeared, about one per 10⁴⁴ ordinary particles, then by the time matter and radiation became equal in influence, they could have grown to stellar masses. That's exactly how much dark matter we observe today. Previously, it was thought that a much larger initial fraction of holes would be needed, which didn't fit observations well. Extra dimensions remove this contradiction: holes don't have to be born as giants; they can grow in the process.

For the mechanism to work, at least two extra dimensions are needed. One doesn't provide enough suppression of evaporation, and the hole still dies before it gains weight.

Such growth is not just a mathematical curiosity. It opens a new way to explain dark matter without invoking unknown particles. Instead of searching for invisible building blocks of the universe, we can allow that space is deeper and black holes are trickier than we thought. And then dark matter is not a mysterious substance but a scattering of grown primordial holes whose roots reach into hidden dimensions.

If our universe had two extra dimensions, a black hole with the mass of a small asteroid could grow to the mass of the Sun over a time comparable to the age of the universe.

The idea of hidden dimensions where black holes can grow to enormous sizes recalls the world of "Interstellar," where characters pass through a wormhole connected to five-dimensional space.

Scientists
Stephen HawkingJacob BekensteinJohn Archibald WheelerVera RubinFritz ZwickyKarl Schwarzschild
Concepts
early universe black holes supermassive black hole growth early dark energy hawking area law dark star Hawking area theorem radiation dominated era no-hair theorem expansion of the universe primordial gravitational waves primordial magnetic fields nuclear reaction mass gap wave amplification population iii stars mass inflation structure growth gap cosmic particle acceleration first stars nucleosynthesis surface gravity