Record-Breaking Neutrino May Be Linked to Exploding Primordial Black Hole

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:58:00 +0200

In 2023, scientists observed a neutrino hitting Earth with an energy level far beyond any known natural cosmic source, about 100,000 times greater than the output of the Large Hadron Collider. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst propose that this extraordinary particle may have originated from the explosive death of a quasi-extremal primordial black hole (PBH), a rare type of black hole theorized to form shortly after the Big Bang. Unlike regular black holes, these PBHs could carry a mysterious 'dark charge,' emitting intense bursts of energy and potentially revealing previously unknown particles, including candidates for dark matter. The team’s study, published in Physical Review Letters, explains how this event aligns with predictions for neutrinos generated by PBH explosions. Interestingly, only the KM3NeT detector observed the event, while IceCube did not, suggesting that such PBHs may be rare or have selective emission properties due to the dark charge. The find