arXiv subjects

Jeremy Mould

Publications and source records attributed to Jeremy Mould.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The impact of Hawking radiation from primordial black holes on recombination and the Hubble tension

Primordial black holes (PBHs) evaporate through Hawking radiation, emitting high-energy photons and ionising their surrounding environment. As contributors to the density of dark matter, Omega_C, if 10^-18 solar mass PBHs are present in the Universe they delay recombination and move the surface of last scattering of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We perform recombination simulations using the software Recfast, and calculate the PBH fraction of dark matter required to resolve the Hubble tension. We find that nominally a cosmic PBH energy density of Omega_PBH ~ 10^-3 Omega_C would cause an 8.9% increase in the value of H_0, enough to entirely reduce the tension between the early- and late-time observations. This PBH fraction is modified by Gray Body Factors affecting Hawking radiation. Furthermore, also fitting the CMB leaves the Hubble tension not fully relieved with our present PBH prescription. Until relevant non-gravitational properties of the dominant dark matter species are ruled out, we suggest that the hypothesis that the ionisation history of the universe matches the thermal history of the standard LCDM cosmology is too precarious to hang the expansion rate on, and that it is better to measure H_0 locally at z <~ 1.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Is dark matter decaying ?

An enduring signature of the decay of unstable dark matter constituents into other particles would manifest as a measurable discrepancy in the matter density parameter (Omega_m) between the recombination era (z ~ 1000) and the local Universe (z = 0). While precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background tightly constrain the initial matter budget, evaluating this decay hypothesis requires an equally precise audit of the current epoch. We find that current local inventories of baryonic and dark matter are subject to systematic uncertainties - particularly in accounting for the warm-hot intergalactic medium, diffuse intra-cluster media, and the exact profiles of low-mass dark matter halos - rendering a definitive verdict on late-time dark matter decay currently hard to pin down. Furthermore, existing astrophysical bounds on cosmic rays, the diffuse gamma-ray background, and reionization history already heavily constrain potential decay channels during this epoch. However, next-generation observational technology is poised to resolve these local accounting gaps. Upcoming high-resolution spectroscopic surveys, next-decade X-ray missions, and advanced weak lensing campaigns will drastically reduce baryon and mass-mapping uncertainties, transforming the late-time matter audit into a cleaner, more definitive test.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Peculiar velocities at low Galactic latitude

The Laniakea Supercluster is the closest large scale structure of galaxies. Is such a structure expected in the standard cold dark matter model of cosmology? This would be a relatively simple question to answer, were it not for the fact that the Zone of Avoidance (ZOA) runs right through it. Recent improvements to this paucity of data in the innermost ZOA can be made from systematic 21 cm surveys using the MeerKAT telescope (e.g. Kraan-Korteweg et al. 2024), and implementing these HI-redshifts as an extension to the CosmicFlows4 database for reconstruction (Hollinger et al. 2026). In this paper we test the assumption that for the purpose of reconstruction, additional HI detected galaxies without peculiar velocity determinations could be placed at their Hubble distances. We present infrared photometry of 163 of these in HI detected MeerKAT ZOA galaxies, in addition to 2MASS Extended Sources in the ZOA to determine their peculiar velocities. Averaging these peculiar velocities into redshift bins, we find that peculiar velocity corrections in the Laniakea Supercluster ZoA region are not prohibitively large, and that one can proceed with its reconstruction using the copious redshift data now available.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

AMPM I. A Targeted Search for Asteroid Mass Primordial Black Hole Microlenses

Gravitational microlensing is a powerful technique for constraining the abundance of dark matter in asteroid mass to supermassive primordial black holes at masses of $-11 \lesssim \log M/\mathrm{M}_\odot \lesssim 5$. In this work, we introduce a new high-cadence stellar microlensing survey in the Large Magellanic Cloud, AMPM. The primary goal of AMPM is to place constraints in the asteroid-to-planetary-mass regime of primordial black hole dark matter. We present the five nights of survey data, the microlensing detection pipeline, and the microlensing efficiency of AMPM. We explore the impact of the stellar distribution in the Large Magellanic Cloud on the microlensing detection efficiency and conduct a detailed analysis of second-order microlensing effects and the impact on the primordial black hole dark matter constraints. Our findings indicate that these second-order effects shift the maximum sensitivity of AMPM toward the lunar-mass black hole regime at $10^{-8} - 10^{-6} \, M_{\odot}$. From the five nights of data, we detect a single microlensing candidate and find that AMPM can constrain at the 95\% C.L up to 30\% of the Galactic primordial black hole dark matter distribution.

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arXiv2026

AMPM II. A Lunar-Mass Primordial Black Hole Microlensing Candidate in the Milky Way Halo

Primordial Black Holes (PBH) are hypothesised to form during inflation and have long been considered a candidate for compact dark matter. Gravitational microlensing is known as a productive method for exoplanet discovery and characterisation, but also provides an experimental avenue to constrain the PBH abundance in the mass regime from $\sim 10^{-11}\ M_{\odot}$ to $\sim 10^5\ M_{\odot}$. We performed a high-cadence, optical microlensing survey with DECam over five nights towards the Large Magellanic Cloud, sensitive to microlensing timescales from minutes to days. Here, we report the discovery of an hour-long microlensing event. An optical depth probabilistic analysis indicates that the lensing object, which we refer to as Phoebe, is 5 orders of magnitude more likely to be part of the Milky Way's dark matter halo than part of the stellar content of the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud. No matter the location of Phoebe, it is among the fastest and lowest mass microlensing signals ever detected, with an Einstein timescale of approximately 60 minutes. Using Bayesian modelling, we interpret Phoebe as a PBH with mass $0.032^{+0.227}_{-0.027} M_{\oplus}$, or approximately 3 lunar masses. Phoebe suggests a population of compact, lunar-mass objects associated with the dark matter distribution of the Milky Way, and potentially opens a new window to the physics of inflation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Accelerating massive galaxy formation with primordial black hole seed nuclei

If massive primordial black holes (PBHs) exist and constitute a fraction of the dark matter, they can dramatically catalyze galaxy formation. By acting as pre-existing, high-density seeds, they can shorten the galaxy assembly time to as little as 100 Myr for up to 10^8 solar mass PBH seeds, allowing for the rapid formation of host halos. Furthermore, low surface brightness or diffuse galaxies may represent a natural outcome of this process, perhaps as the residue of halos seeded by smaller PBHs that failed to accrete a major baryonic component.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Are carbon deflagration supernovae triggered by dark matter ?

Collisions between stellar remnants and dark matter in the Galactic bulge are frequent, and the kinetic energy of a primordial black hole incident on a white dwarf, if it is all thermalized, will raise the degenerate core's temperature, by at least a degree in the case of a lunar mass black hole. This is an underestimate in two ways: the specific heat is less than 3k/2 per particle, and the incoming object is accelerated by gravitational focusing. Detailed physical models have recently been made of this triggering event. Present observational data are equivocal as to whether the radial distribution of type Ia supernovae in galaxies follows the starlight in the galaxies, or is more concentrated towards the center, as collisional triggering would suggest. But future samples of millions of supernovae from the Rubin telescope will change that.

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arXiv2026

Oort Cloud Bombardment by Dark Matter

The realization that primordial black holes (PBHs) might be some fraction of the dark matter begged the question, how often do PBHs enter the solar system? For a Neptune radius solar system the answer is, rarely. For an Oort cloud sized system the answer is different. Simulations of bombardment of the Oort cloud by dark matter suggest that dislodgement of protocomets and their entry into the inner solar system can match the observed frequency of comets, if that PBH fraction is high enough. Comets were traditionally considered as messengers, usually omens. After 50 years of puzzlement regarding dark matter, we need a hint from the dark universe about the size and nature of dark matter particles.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

More power on large scales

The high value of the cosmic microwave dipole may be telling us that dark matter is macroscopic rather than a fundamental particle. The possible presence of a significant dark matter component in the form of primordial black holes suggests that dark halo formation simulations should be commenced well before redshift z = 100. Unlike standard CDM candidates, PBHs behave as dense, non-relativistic matter from their inception in the radiation-dominated era. This allows them to seed gravitational potential wells and begin clustering earlier. We find that starting N-body simulations at redshifts even before matter-radiation equality yield galaxy bulk flow velocities that are systematically larger than those predicted by standard LCDM models. The early, high-mass concentrations established by PBHs lead to a more rapid and efficient gravitational acceleration of surrounding baryonic and dark matter, generating larger peculiar velocities that remain coherent over scales of hundreds of Mpc. Furthermore, a sub-population of PBHs in the 10^-20 to 10^-17 solar mass range would lose a non-negligible fraction of their mass via Hawking radiation over cosmological timescales. This evaporation process converts matter into radiation, so a time-varying matter density parameter, Omega_m', is introduced, which behaves like a boosted radiation term in the Friedmann equation. This dynamic term acts to reduce the Hubble tension. A higher effective Omega_r in the early universe reduces the sound horizon at the epoch of recombination. PBH mass loss also influences fits to the equation of state parameter, w, at low redshift. The naive N-body modelling presented here suggests investigation with tried and tested cosmology codes should be carried out, by introducing mass losing PBHs and starting the evolution as early as practicable.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Pregalactic globular cluster formation

The QCD phase transition in the early universe may provide primordial black hole nuclei for globular clusters. We consider the accretion and star formation that follow, once 1000 solar mass nuclei have formed. When such a nucleus has formed, it remains. Whether these are common in the oldest globular clusters is one decidedly challenging question for the model, which is, as yet, unanswered; another is a possible contribution to the cosmic gravitational radiation background.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

If quasars form from primordial black holes

We explore the consequences of a novel but increasingly well-supported hypothesis that supermassive black holes may have formed from primordial black holes form ed prior to, and rapidly growing in, the radiation-dominated universe. We show that this hypothesis can predict the luminosity of quasars and their luminosity distribution. With reasonable values of the parameters introduced, these predictions are borne out by observations. The model predicts density evolution in accordance with observations. If the same galaxy interaction rate creates quasars and radio galaxies, whose primordial black hole nuclei seem somewhat less massive, their relative number densities reflect relative lifetimes in these states.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Primordial Black Holes as Coma Cluster Dark Matter and the Unresolved {\gamma}-Ray Background

If 0.1% of the dark matter in the Coma cluster is constituted by primordial black holes (PBHs) with masses ranging from 10^-19 to 10^-17 solar masses, then the observed GeV {\gamma}-ray emission from the cluster could potentially be attributed to Hawking radiation. The emitted spectrum is inversely proportional to the black hole's mass, meaning lighter PBHs radiate at higher energies, potentially falling within the GeV range. If 0.1% of the Coma cluster's dark matter is PBH in this mass range, a fit to the cluster's GeV emission is obtained. We then investigate the potential for constraining evaporating PBHs through cross-correlations between the Unresolved Gamma-Ray Background and weak gravitational lensing. Utilizing 12 years of Fermi-LAT observations and weak lensing measurements from the Dark Energy Survey Year 3, we assess whether such correlations can reveal a PBH {\gamma}-ray component. While a statistically significant correlation between the UGRB and large-scale structure has been observed, this signal is consistent with emission from clustered astrophysical sources such as blazars. Attributing a measurable fraction of the UGRB to PBH evaporation would require unrealistically large PBH abundances. We also draw attention to a cluster of Coma-like X-ray clusters, designated Draco X, observed at a redshift of z = 0.12. These systems, characterized by their significant X-ray emission from hot, diffuse intracluster gas, represent massive gravitationally bound structures. The existence and properties of such clusters at these redshifts provide crucial cosmological probes, offering insights into the formation and evolution of large-scale structure and the underlying cosmological parameters. Further investigation of Draco X and similar high-redshift clusters would yield additional constraints on large scale structure.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Gaia's faintest stars

In the Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking was pessimistic about astronomers detecting primordial black holes (PBHs). He would not be the only distinguished scientist to underestimate the extraordinary power of new technology. In a related area Albert Einstein published the equations for microlensing, but wrote off their practicality. Perhaps they meant "during my lifetime." The amazing properties of PBHs, however, validate heroic efforts to detect them. If they exist, their niches in our current history of time include supplying dark matter to bind galaxies, offering a solution for the Hubble tension, and, as supermassive black holes, giving us quasars as far as the eye can see. This Research Note describes a search for PBHs in the Gaia archive. In spite of the high density of local dark matter, it was unsuccessful. Microlensing with the Rubin telescope is the tool at our disposal to open the asteroid window for PBH.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Dark Matter Genesis

Recent discoveries of primordial black hole (PBH) candidates by means of high cadence microlensing open the way to a physical understanding of the formation of dark matter as a chapter in the thermal history of the Universe. Two complementary sites of PBH formation are considered, inflation and the early Universe at TeV to MeV energies. In the latter case the Friedman equation, together with the measurement of the mass of the PBH, reveal the threshold energy, the mass spectrum and the likely end point of this epoch. Some of the many recent exoplanet detections may conceivably have been detections of PBHs. When the Universe cools to MeV temperatures, larger mass PBH would form similarly, reaching the supermassive regime. The discovery of numerous supermassive black holes (SMBH) at high redshift with JWST fulfils this expectation. We corroborate the idea that Planck mass relics could be an important component of dark matter, and find that these are formed by PBH with initial mass less than approximately 6 x 10^{-16} M{_\odot} and cosmic temperature above 10^9 GeV. Although in some mass ranges PBH can only make up a modest fraction of {\Omega}matter, it is possible that all astrophysical dark matter, as distinct from axions and WIMPs, is of PBH origin.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

In search for the Local Universe dynamical homogeneity scale with CF4++ peculiar velocities

This article explores an update to the cosmography of the local Universe within z=0.1, incorporating galaxy peculiar velocity datasets from the first data releases of WALLABY, FAST, and DESI surveys. The galaxies with peculiar velocities currently selected in each survey is 655, 4796, and 4191 respectively. The new CF4++ compendium enables a more comprehensive study of the nearby Universe bulk flow dynamics. We find a bulk flow of 315 \pm 40 km/s at 150 Mpc/h. This analysis additionally reveals that the dynamical scale of homogeneity is not yet reached in the interval [200-300] Mpc/h from the observer. This new data also refines the structure of local superclusters, revealing more spherical shapes and more clearly defined boundaries for key regions such as Great Attractor (Laniakea) and Coma. Very few measurements make a big difference in revealing the hidden Vela supercluster.To help colleagues obtain a peculiar velocity prediction for the object they are currently studying (SNIa, gravitational waves, etc.), we publicly release the CF4++ catalogue, as well as the reconstructed density and velocity fields used in this work.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

WALLABY Pilot Survey: the Tully-Fisher relation in the NGC 4808, Vela and NGC 5044 fields

The Tully-Fisher Relation (TFR) is a well-known empirical relationship between the luminosity of a spiral galaxy and its circular velocity, allowing us to estimate redshift independent distances. Here we use high signal-to-noise HI 21-cm integrated spectra from the second pilot data release (PDR2, 180 deg2) of the Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (WALLABY). In order to prepare for the full WALLABY survey, we have investigated the TFR in phase 2 of the pilot survey with a further three fields. The data were obtained with wide-field Phased Array Feeds on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and have an angular resolution of 30 arcsec and a velocity resolution of ~4 km/s. Galaxy luminosities have been measured from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and optical galaxy inclinations from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. We present TFRs for wavelengths from 0.8-3.4{\mu}m. We examine sources of galaxy inclination data and investigate magnitudes from the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey (DELVE) and DENIS catalogues and the 4HS target catalogue based on the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS). We consider the baryonic TFR. These are all of interest for TFR using the full WALLABY survey of 200,000 galaxies. We demonstrate that WALLABY TFR distances can take their place among state of the art studies of the local velocity field.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Infrared Spectroscopy of Nearby Radio Active Early-Type Galaxies -- II: Spectral Atlas

We present a near infrared spectroscopic atlas of nearby, bright early-type galaxies with radio emission, containing 163 galaxies observed by the Palomar 200" TripleSpec instrument, measuring the emission line fluxes for H, He, [Fe II] and H$_2$ and determined the nuclear excitation mechanisms. By stacking spectra, we deduced the H$_2$ excitation temperature ($1957\pm182$ K) and dominant excitation mechanism (thermal and shock heating combined) from the $\textit{K}$-band emission line sequence. Stacking also produces an "average" spectrum of absorption features and spectral indices from the literature; the CO12 absorption line index vs. $\textit{J-K}$ colour shows a trend of stronger nuclear activity producing a weaker CO12 index and a redder (flatter) continuum. The correlations between the radio and the emission-line luminosities finds a trend with radio power; however, the large scatter in the upper limits shows that the two are not directly coupled and the duty cycles of SF and AGN activity are not synchronised.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

WALLABY Pre-Pilot and Pilot Survey: the Tully Fisher Relation in Eridanus, Hydra, Norma and NGC4636 fields

The WALLABY pilot survey has been conducted using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). The integrated 21-cm HI line spectra are formed in a very different manner compared to usual single-dish spectra Tully-Fisher measurements. It is thus extremely important to ensure that slight differences (e.g. biases due to missing flux) are quantified and understood in order to maximise the use of the large amount of data becoming available soon. This article is based on four fields for which the data are scientifically interesting by themselves. The pilot data discussed here consist of 614 galaxy spectra at a rest wavelength of 21cm. Of these spectra, 472 are of high enough quality to be used to potentially derive distances using the Tully-Fisher relation. We further restrict the sample to the 251 galaxies whose inclination is sufficiently close to edge-on. For these, we derive Tully-Fisher distances using the deprojected WALLABY velocity widths combined with infrared (WISE W1) magnitudes. The resulting Tully-Fisher distances for the Eridanus, Hydra, Norma and NGC 4636 clusters are 21.5, 53.5, 69.4 and 23.0 Mpc respectively, with uncertainties of 5--10\%, which are better or equivalent to the ones obtained in studies using data obtained with giant single dish telescopes. The pilot survey data show the benefits of WALLABY over previous giant single-dish telescope surveys. WALLABY is expected to detect around half a million galaxies with a mean redshift of $z = 0.05 (200 Mpc)$. This study suggests that about 200,000 Tully-Fisher distances might result from the survey.

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