Massive primordial black holes from hybrid inflation as dark matter and the seeds of galaxies

In this paper we present a new scenario where massive primordial black holes (PBHs) are produced from the collapse of large curvature perturbations generated during a mild-waterfall phase of hybrid inflation. We determine the values of the inflaton potential parameters leading to a PBH mass spectrum peaking on planetarylike masses at matter-radiation equality and producing abundances comparable to those of dark matter today, while the matter power spectrum on scales probed by cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies agrees with Planck data. These PBHs could have acquired large stellar masses today, via merging, and the model passes both the constraints from CMB distortions and microlensing. This scenario is supported by Chandra observations of numerous BH candidates in the central region of Andromeda. Moreover, the tail of the PBH mass distribution could be responsible for the seeds of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, as well as for ultraluminous x-ray sources. We find that our effective hybrid potential can originate e.g. from D-term inflation with a Fayet-Iliopoulos term of the order of the Planck scale but sub-Planckian values of the inflaton field. Finally, we discuss the implications of quantum diffusion at the instability point of the potential, able to generate a Swiss-cheese-like structure of the Universe, eventually leading to apparent accelerated cosmic expansionThe work of S. C. is supported by the Return Grant program of the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO). J. G.-B. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish MINECO under Grants No. FPA 2012-39684-C03-02 and No. FPA 2013-47983-C03-03 and Consolider-Ingenio “Physics of the Accelerating Universe (PAU)” (CSD2007-00060). We also acknowledge the support from the Spanish MINECO’s “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa” Programme under Grant No. SEV-2012-024