What is a Micro black hole?

Micro black holes, alternatively referred to as quantum mechanical black holes or mini black holes, are conjectural diminutive black holes wherein quantum mechanical effects take center stage. The idea of black holes smaller than stellar mass was first proposed by Stephen Hawking in 1971.

In essence, a black hole can possess any mass exceeding roughly 22.1 micrograms (the Planck mass). Creating a black hole necessitates a concentration of mass or energy to such a degree that the escape velocity from the region exceeds the speed of light, resulting in the Schwarzschild radius.

The Compton wavelength represents a limit on the smallest area in which a resting mass M can be localized. For small enough M, the reduced Compton wavelength exceeds half the Schwarzschild radius, and no black hole description is viable, making the smallest mass for a black hole approximately the Planck mass.

Current physics theories consider the possibility of extra spatial dimensions. In a higher-dimensional spacetime, gravity intensifies more quickly with decreasing distance. Under certain configurations of these extra dimensions, this effect can lower the Planck scale to the TeV range.

Scenarios where black hole production could be a significant and observable effect at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) include large extra dimensions, certain iterations of the Randall–Sundrum model, and string theory configurations like the GKP solutions. This could also be a common natural phenomenon triggered by cosmic rays.

Quantum primordial black holes might have been created in the high-density environment of the early Universe, or potentially through subsequent phase transitions. They may be observable through the particles they are expected to emit via Hawking radiation.

Stephen Hawking postulated in 1975 that black holes "evaporate" due to quantum effects, a process now known as Hawking radiation, which results in the emission of elementary particles. His calculations indicated that the smaller the black hole, the faster the evaporation rate, leading to a sudden particle burst as the micro black hole abruptly explodes.

Speculations for the black hole's ultimate fate include complete evaporation and the formation of a Planck-mass-sized black hole remnant. If these Planck-mass black holes are essentially stable objects, they could explain dark matter.

A primordial black hole with an initial mass of around 1012 kg would be completing its evaporation today, while a less massive one would have already evaporated. The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite may detect experimental evidence of black hole evaporation through observation of gamma-ray burst. The impact of a collision between a microscopic black hole and a star or planet would likely be imperceptible.

The small radius and high density of the black hole would allow it to pass straight through any object consisting of normal atoms, interacting with only few of its atoms while doing so. It has, however, been suggested that a small black hole of sufficient mass passing through the Earth would produce a detectable acoustic or seismic signal.

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