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Space

Odd black holes smaller than protons may have once littered the cosmos

Minuscule black holes that formed right after the big bang could have had a strange property called colour charge, and spotting them could help unravel the mystery of dark matter

By Leah Crane

13 June 2024

Colour-charged black holes may have formed in the early universe

betibup33/Shutterstock

The universe may have once been speckled with tiny black holes that had a strange property called colour charge. These exotic objects, if they existed, would have formed in the instants after the big bang and evaporated just as quickly, but they could have upset the balance of elements in the early universe.

The minuscule black holes that may have formed right at the start of the cosmos are known as primordial black holes…

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