NASA's Nancy Grace Roman telescope to hunt for primordial black holes from Big Bang era

With Black Hole Week in full swing, let's explore NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is poised to embark on a groundbreaking mission: hunting for primordial black holes dating back billions of years to the Big Bang.

The mission is set to launch in late 2026.

Black holes

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The term black hole normally conjures up images of massive celestial entities. However, Roman aims to detect far smaller, ancient counterparts that are theorised to have a mass similar to Earth.

A team of researchers has published research in the journal Physical Review D postulating exactly how Roman will set upon hunting primordial black holes.

"Detecting a population of Earth-mass primordial black holes would be an incredible step for both astronomy and particle physics because these objects can't be formed by any known physical process," said William DeRocco, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Santa Cruz, team lead of the research.

In a statement, as quoted by space.com, he added, "If we find them, it will shake up the field of theoretical physics."

Dubbed "primordial black holes," these enigmatic entities, if proven to exist, could challenge our understanding of the universe's early epochs some 13.8 billion years ago.

These miniature black holes with masses comparable to asteroids or even Earth might have originated during the universe's inception, some 13.8 billion years ago, speculate scientists.

Doubtful existence

As per the report, the existence of primordial black holes remains a matter of speculation.

One famous personality whose research contributed to the doubts surrounding their existence is Stephen Hawking.

Hawking's theory of Hawking radiation proposes that black holes "leak" radiation and eventually evaporate. For primordial black holes to survive billions of years without evaporating, they must defy Hawking's predictions.

How will Roman seek to defy the postulations of Hawking's radiation theory?

Roman's strategy for detecting these cosmic fossils hinges on gravitational microlensing, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein's general relativity. Currently, microlensing helps scientists find rogue planets, but it has the potential to help prove the existence of primordial black holes.

This principle suggests that massive objects can bend light, causing distortions observed from Earth. By monitoring these distortions, Roman could help prove the presence of primordial black holes, which, as per speculation, could potentially be disguised as Earth-mass rogue planets.

"There's no way to tell between Earth-mass black holes and rogue planets on a case-by-case basis," said DeRocco.

"Roman will be extremely powerful in differentiating between the two statistically."

(With inputs from agencies)