Probing the particle spectrum of nature with evaporating black holes

Photons radiated from an evaporating black hole in principle provide complete information on the particle spectrum of nature up to the Planck scale. If an evaporating black hole were to be observed, it would open a unique window onto models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. To demonstrate this, we compute the limits that could be placed on the size of a dark sector. We find that observation of an evaporating black hole at a distance of 0.01 parsecs could probe dark sector models containing one or more copies of the Standard Model particles, with any mass scale up to 100 TeV. Published by the SciPost Foundation.

Automated summary

Photons emitted from an evaporating black hole have the potential to provide comprehensive information about the particle spectrum of nature, up to the Planck scale. Observing an evaporating black hole could open a unique window to study models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. By computing the limits, we find that an evaporating black hole observed at a distance of 0.01 parsecs could probe the size of a dark sector.