We’re really not aware of the number of theories out there about the creation of the universe, from the Big Bang, which is the most widely accepted, to religious beliefs and even wild theories like the Pastafarian religion (with all due respect, of course). But now something Stephen Hawking once said is gaining traction, what if the universe was born from a black hole?
Think about it: for decades, black holes have represented the end of everything, collapsed matter, trapped light, cosmic silence. But what if it were the other way around? What if these objects were actually the beginning? Here’s everything about this theory. What do you think?
What if the universe was born from a black hole?
For decades, black holes have been seen as the ultimate end, always spoken about with fear, but this “new theory” (which isn’t actually new, since it was proposed years ago) suggests the opposite.
It’s been 40 years since Stephen Hawking proposed that black holes could emit quantum radiation. At the time, it was impossible to prove, and the theory just floated around, but now, a study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics suggests Hawking may have been right, that primordial black holes, those that formed moments after the Big Bang, not only existed but may have been responsible for shaping the structure of the current universe. This may have blown your mind, but it’s exactly what was proposed 40 years ago!
According to this theory, the Hawking radiation emitted by these black holes didn’t just alter the distribution of visible matter, it could have created new particles: Hawking relics, particles that may still be floating through space and could help us understand how the cosmos was formed.
Tiny black holes
Unlike the enormous black holes that now sit at the centres of galaxies, these primordial black holes would have been tiny, with masses comparable to mountains. As small as they were intense, but with one undeniable trait: they released enormous amounts of energy in a short time. Their accelerated evaporation may have reshaped the distribution of matter and energy, altering the universe’s rate of expansion.
Hawking relics and dark matter
The study suggests the existence of particles called relics that could still be floating in space today. They would be extremely stable, interact very little with normal matter, and have a characteristic temperature below 1 kelvin.
What’s most incredible is that these relics wouldn’t have been created by thermal processes (like most other particles in the universe) but by the curvature of space-time itself! Their distribution and motion would differ from other particles, and this uniqueness could reveal them in cosmological observations.
Traces of the past but visible today
Scientists believe these relics might be acting as “cosmic fossils,” helping us understand that, at some point, black holes evaporated history.
Researchers have also tried modelling different types of relics moving at different speeds and with different masses to assess their effect on the universe’s evolution. This cosmological signature could be detected by telescopes like SDSS, DESI, or HETDEX, and would help test a hypothesis born in Hawking’s mind half a century ago.
Hidden physics in Hawking radiation
These particles may not belong to the Standard Model of physics and could be related to the dark sector, so their existence would open a door to studying new physical phenomena without the need for accelerators, using the universe itself as a lab.
A new vision of the origin of the universe?
This work adds to other theories pointing to a less explosive and more quantum origin of the universe, as some physicists believe that instead of a Big Bang, the universe was born from a quantum transition from nothing. In this scenario, primordial black holes might not just be remnants of the past but main characters from the very beginning.
What if Hawking was right?
The universe is stranger than we imagine and holds millions of secrets we still don’t know, but the future of cosmology might just begin with this paper.