Alex Vilenkin
Tufts University

Abstract
Cosmic inflation is a period of rapid, accelerated expansion in the early history of the universe. Inflation explains some puzzling features of the big bang that had to be postulated before and makes predictions that have been confirmed by observations. In this talk I will argue that inflation generically predicts the formation of black holes with a very wide spectrum of masses. This effect may account for supermassive black holes observed at the centers of most galaxies, for black hole mergers observed by the LIGO interferometer, and for the mysterious dark matter of the universe.

2020 February 28, 13:30

IA/U.Porto
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (Auditorium)
Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto