Constraining spinning primordial black holes with interstellar dust heating
Abstract
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a well-motivated dark matter candidate, and their cosmic abundance is constrained by a variety of observational probes. PBHs in the mass range 1015 g − 1017 g are evaporating today via Hawking radiation, a process that can heat interstellar dust and modify its thermal emission. Recent studies have used this effect to place constraints on the abundance of non-spinning PBHs. We extend this approach by investigating the influence of PBH spin on dust-heating constraints. Furthermore, we account for secondary photons that originate not only from the decay of gauge bosons but also from the decay of hadrons produced via the fragmentation of primary quarks and gluons emitted through Hawking radiation. By comparing the dust heating rate induced by spinning PBHs with the maximum cooling rate of dust, considering both silicate and graphite grains, we derive new upper limits on the fraction of dark matter in the form of PBHs, fPBH. Our results show that the constraints depend on both PBH mass and spin. Smaller PBHs with higher spin yield stronger limits. For example, in the cases we investigated, the strongest constraint is fPBH ∼ 1.5 × 10−4 for MPBH = 1015g and spin parameter a* = 0.9999. Although these limits are less stringent than existing constraints in the same mass range, they provide a distinct and complementary approach to constraining the abundance of PBHs.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026constraining,
title = {{Constraining spinning primordial black holes with interstellar dust heating}},
author = {Qianyong Li and Yupeng Yang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.10985},
eprint = {2609.10985},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10985},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Constraining spinning primordial black holes with interstellar dust heating
AU - Qianyong Li
AU - Yupeng Yang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.10985
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10985
AB - Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a well-motivated dark matter candidate, and their cosmic abundance is constrained by a variety of observational probes. PBHs in the mass range 10^15 g − 10^17 g are evaporating today via Hawking radiation, a process that can heat interstellar dust and modify its thermal emission. Recent studies have used this effect to place constraints on the abundance of non-spinning PBHs. We extend this approach by investigating the influence of PBH spin on dust-heating constraints. Furthermore, we account for secondary photons that originate not only from the decay of gauge bosons but also from the decay of hadrons produced via the fragmentation of primary quarks and gluons emitted through Hawking radiation. By comparing the dust heating rate induced by spinning PBHs with the maximum cooling rate of dust, considering both silicate and graphite grains, we derive new upper limits on the fraction of dark matter in the form of PBHs, f_PBH. Our results show that the constraints depend on both PBH mass and spin. Smaller PBHs with higher spin yield stronger limits. For example, in the cases we investigated, the strongest constraint is f_PBH ∼ 1.5 × 10^−4 for M_PBH = 10^15g and spin parameter a_* = 0.9999. Although these limits are less stringent than existing constraints in the same mass range, they provide a distinct and complementary approach to constraining the abundance of PBHs.
ER -