The physics of Planck-ton
by
1/1-2 - Aula "C. Voci"
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edificio Marzolo
Primordial black holes, if produced in the early Universe, may not evaporate completely but instead leave behind stable or long-lived Planck-mass remnants, or "Planck-tons". I review theoretical arguments for such relics from quantum gravity frameworks, including generalized uncertainty principles, loop quantum gravity, and string-theoretic corrections, which suggest a breakdown of semiclassical evaporation near the Planck scale. I discuss the resulting relic abundance and show that even a tiny initial PBH fraction can account for the observed dark matter, with relics behaving as ultra-cold, collisionless matter today. I outline possible detection avenues, including high-frequency gravitational waves from evaporation and mergers, electromagnetic signatures of charged relics, and direct mechanical probes. I argue that Planck-scale relics provide a testable link between quantum gravity, early-Universe cosmology, and dark matter.