Interstellar Gas Heating by Primordial Black Holes

Abstract

Interstellar gas heating is a powerful cosmology-independent observable for exploring the parameter space of primordial black holes (PBHs) formed in the early Universe that could constitute part of the dark matter (DM). We provide a detailed analysis of the various aspects for this observable, such as PBH emission mechanisms. Using observational data from the Leo T dwarf galaxy, we constrain the PBH abundance over a broad mass-range, $M_{\mathrm{PBH}}\sim \mathcal{O}(1)M_{\odot }-10^7{M}_{\odot }$, relevant for the recently detected gravitational wave signals from intermediate-mass BHs. We also consider PBH gas heating of systems with bulk relative velocity with respect to the DM, such as Galactic clouds.

30 pages, 5 figures; matches published version