Accelerating massive galaxy formation with primordial black hole seed nuclei
Astrophysics of Galaxies
2026-03-06 v1
Abstract
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.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.04784,
title = {Accelerating massive galaxy formation with primordial black hole seed nuclei},
author = {Jeremy Mould},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.04784},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
to appear in AJ