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arXiv · 2601.10304

Effect of Primordial Black Holes on the global 21-cm signal

Atrideb Chatterjee
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Abstract

The 21-cm global signal, a treasure trove of information about the nature of the first luminous sources of the Universe, has traditionally been modelled assuming that these early sources were predominantly star-forming galaxies. However, recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed several AGNs as early as z ~ 10 - 10.4 . In light of this, it is important to investigate the contribution of such AGNs to the 21-cm signal. Assuming that these AGNs are seeded by Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) and employing an analytical PBH model, consistent with existing cosmological and astrophysical constraints, we show that these exotic objects can have a significant impact on the redshift evolution of the global signal.

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Atrideb Chatterjee. 2026-01-15. Effect of Primordial Black Holes on the global 21-cm signal. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10304

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