A small black hole revives a 50-year-old theory that was considered almost impossible to prove sciences

Since the 1970s, Soviet scientists Yakov Zeldovich and Igor Novikov put forward the bold idea that some black holes were not formed from the death of stars as is known, but rather were born during the first moments following the Big Bang.

Later, the famous physicist Stephen Hawking developed this idea and suggested that these objects, known as primordial black holes, might explain part of the mystery of dark matter, which makes up about 85% of the matter in the universe.

Today, this hypothesis has returned to the forefront after an unusual signal was detected by the LIGO Gravitational Wave Observatory, prompting researchers from the University of Miami to re-examine the possibility that this signal is the first real evidence of the existence of a long-awaited primordial black hole.

The signal differs from all known black holes

The story began when, late last year, 2025, the LIGO observatory issued an automatic alert about a cosmic merger event that resulted in powerful gravitational waves. But what interested scientists was that one of the two bodies involved in the merger appeared to be less massive than the Sun.

Here lies the scientific problem; Traditional models of stellar evolution do not predict the existence of black holes with a mass less than the mass of the Sun. Physicist Nick Capellotti from the University of Miami explains that most known black holes form after supernova explosions, and therefore their masses usually range between several times the mass of the Sun and billions of solar masses.

This discrepancy made the signal appear different from any previously observed black hole merger, and raised the possibility of a new explanation outside traditional astronomical scenarios.

Could it be the first primordial black hole discovered?

The research team, led by Capellotti and doctoral student Alberto Magaraghia, sought to test the hypothesis that the mysterious object is a primordial black hole that formed in the ultra-dense environment that dominated the early universe.

The results were published in The Astrophysical Journal, where computational models showed that interpreting the signal as a primordial black hole is consistent with the data available so far. The researchers also tried to estimate the numbers of these potential objects in the universe and the rate of their detection by LIGO.

According to the study, low-mass primordial black holes are supposed to be very rare, which is consistent with the scarcity of such signals in current gravitational wave records. The researchers believe that this scarcity itself represents a strength of the proposed model rather than a weakness in it.

Dark matter is at stake

The importance of primordial black holes is not only related to understanding black holes, but also extends to one of the biggest mysteries of modern physics, which is dark matter. This invisible matter controls the gravity of galaxies and affects the structure of the universe on a large scale, but its nature is still unknown.

A number of researchers have suggested over the decades that some of the dark matter may consist of primordial black holes that formed immediately after the Big Bang. If this interpretation proves correct, the new signal may represent an important step towards solving a mystery that has lasted for decades.

However, scientists warn that the results are still preliminary, as one event cannot be relied upon to conclusively prove the existence of these objects.

Despite the enthusiasm aroused by the study, researchers stress that there is still a long way to go before the discovery of the first primitive black hole is announced. Some astrophysicists suggest that the signal may just be noise in LIGO’s highly sensitive instruments.

Therefore, it will be necessary to monitor similar events in the coming years to ensure that what has been recorded is not a statistical coincidence or a false signal. If such discoveries are repeated, gravitational waves may become the tool that transfers the hypothesis of primordial black holes from the realm of theories to the realm of observed facts.

Between doubt and discovery, the true value of science is revealed, which is the courage to test old ideas with new tools, and the constant pursuit of a deeper understanding of the origin of the universe and our place in it.