---
title: "New Hypothesis Suggests That Dark Matter May Be Made up of Primordial Black Holes"
description: "With the detection of gravitational waves by LIGO, scientists have been able to hypothesize that dark matter may be composed of primordial black holes. More observation is needed to confirm, but this could represent an exciting new chapter in the history of the universe."
date: "2016-06-18"
modified: "2016-06-18"
authors:
  - name: "Patrick Caughill"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/patrickcaughill"
url: "https://futurism.com/new-hypothesis-suggests-that-dark-matter-may-be-made-up-of-primordial-black-holes"
categories:
  - "Astrophysics"
  - "Black Holes"
  - "Dark Matter"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "big bang"
  - "black hole collision"
  - "dark matter"
  - "LIGO"
---

# New Hypothesis Suggests That Dark Matter May Be Made up of Primordial Black Holes

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Dark-Matter-May-Be-Made-of-Primordial-Black-Holes-B.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/JPL\</em\>*

Groundbreaking observations at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Obseratory (LIGO) have led some scientists to postulate that [dark matter](<https://futurism.com/dark-matter-and-dark-energy-in-a-nutshell-video>) may be made up of primordial black holes. Unlike black holes that were formed later in the history of the universe, primordial black holes are not formed by stars collapsing. Alexander Kashlinksy of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center explained their formation by comparing the Big Bang with spinning pizza dough,"After a while, you will notice it has these holes in the texture of the pizza dough. It's the same with space-time." The holes in the dough represent black holes.

![NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (Goddard)](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/right_cib_uma-1.jpg>)
*NASA/JPL-Caltech/A. Kashlinsky (Goddard)*

In September of 2015 LIGO scientists first detected [gravitational waves](<http://www.space.com/25089-how-gravitational-waves-work-infographic.html>) created by the collision of two black holes. Astronomer[ Simeon Bird](<http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.00464>) of Johns Hopkins University took this discovery further to hypothesize that the colliding black holes were actually primordial. Kashlinsky ran with this idea and began studying the implications. "These studies are providing increasingly sensitive results, slowly shrinking the box of parameters where dark matter particles can hide" [Kashlinsky](<http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-scientist-suggests-possible-link-between-primordial-black-holes-and-dark-matter>) says.

The gravitational waved detected by LIGO [indicates ](<http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-say-we-might-have-found-dark-matter-while-detecting-gravitational-waves?0_47395594930276275=>)the black holes that collided to create them are much too big to be conventional stellar black holes, but not big enough to fit into the understanding of supermassive black holes known to be in the center of galaxies. However, these measurements do coincide with established predictions of the mass of dark matter, making a clear argument for the relation of the two.

While an exciting idea, there is not enough data to prove the hypothesis can be gathered by this single observation of the gravitational waves. Future observations will play a key part in studying these claims.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-caughill-74178a61>)