Dice Question Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Foundational uncertainties in computing relic charge at the Planck scale

Establish a first-principles framework for charged particle emission in the final stages of primordial black hole evaporation that (a) ascertains whether the back-reaction of evaporation products on the black hole can be neglected so that emissions can be treated as isolated events, and (b) determines the behavior of the electromagnetic coupling α_EM at or near the Planck scale relevant to charge emission and relic formation.

Information Square Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Background

The paper highlights conceptual obstacles to calculating the charge distribution of Planck-scale relics, which is crucial for assessing the fraction of charged relics and their detectability. Back-reaction effects could invalidate the approximation of independent emission events, and the high charge-to-mass ratio near extremality may alter evaporation dynamics. Moreover, the running of the electromagnetic coupling at Planckian energies is not established and could be influenced by new physics.

Resolving these issues would refine predictions such as Page’s distribution and modern updates, clarify the expected charged-to-neutral relic fraction, and directly inform experimental strategies (e.g., direct detection and paleo-detectors) sensitive to charged Planck relics.

References

First, it is unclear whether one can neglect the back-reaction of the evaporation products on the BH, and, as a consequence, whether or not the particle emission can be considered as an "individual", isolated event [Page:1976ki]; Second, the charge-to-mass ratio may get large enough that it could significantly affect, or even stop, the evaporation rate: recall that a Planck-mass BH reaches extremality for Q\simeq 12\ e. Third, it is unclear how the running of the electromagnetic coupling \alpha_{\rm EM} behaves at or near the Planck scale, where several layers of new physics possibly come into play through radiative effects.

Ultralight Primordial Black Holes (2405.00546 - Profumo, 1 May 2024) in Section 2 (Planck-scale relics)