2019/09/24 by Jakub Scholtz, James Unwin · 10 voices · 97 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Binary black hole #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Gravitational lens #Gravitational microlensing #Gravitational wave #Orbit (dynamics) #Physics #Planet #Population #Primordial black hole #Solar System #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.EP #hep-ph
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.125.051103
published in Physical Review Letters 125(5), 051103 (American Physical Society) · 7 pages, 1 exact scale illustration of a 5 Earth mass black hole
arxiv created 2019/09/24 · openalex publication_date 2020/07/29 · arxiv updated 2020/08/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We highlight that the anomalous orbits of Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and an excess in microlensing events in the 5-year OGLE dataset can be simultaneously explained by a new population of astrophysical bodies with mass several times that of Earth (M_⊕). We take these objects to be primordial black holes (PBHs) and point out the orbits of TNOs would be altered if one of these PBHs was captured by the Solar System, inline with the Planet 9 hypothesis. Capture of a free floating planet is a leading explanation for the origin of Planet 9 and we show that the probability of capturing a PBH instead is comparable. The observational constraints on a PBH in the outer Solar System significantly differ from the case of a new ninth planet. This scenario could be confirmed through annihilation signals from the dark matter microhalo around the PBH.