Planck stars

Abstract

Quantum-gravitational pressure can stop gravitational collapse and cause a bounce. We observe that: (i) due to the huge time dilation, the process can last micro-seconds in local proper time and billions of years observed from the outside; (ii) the bounce volume can be much larger than planckian, because the onset of quantum-gravity effects is governed by density, not size; (iii) the emerging object can then be bigger than planckian by a factor (m/mP)n, where m is the initial mass, mP is the Planck mass, and n positive; (iv) the interior of an evaporating hole can keep memory of the initial mass, providing an independent scale for the physics of the final explosion. If so, primordial black holes could produce a detectable signal of quantum gravitational origin, which we estimate, under some hypotheses, around the wavelength 10-14 cm.