This hypothesis is based on the theory of black holes forming seconds after the Big Bang. Dark matter is one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. A new theory by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and Yale University suggests that the answer to the mystery lies in the stars. Earl Bellinger and his team believe that small black holes formed in the early universe and lived at the centers of stars that formed around them. Over time, they absorb more and more material from celestial bodies like the Sun.

The research team formulated possible characteristics of such a theoretical star. Items like this are surprisingly durable. Lighter black holes do not affect the evolution of stars, but their influence can be seen in the fact that heavier black holes consume stars over time. Such black holes were described by Stephen Hawking in the 1970s. Small black holes may have formed in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At this point, the material is so hot that it can collapse into so-called primordial black holes, especially in dense regions. For their theory, the researchers calculated what would happen to stars between 0.8 and 100 solar masses that formed around primordial black holes. Black holes can be difficult to grow. It takes billions of years for a star to die.

However, if the black hole is the size of a dwarf planet, nuclear fusion inside the star will cease to occur within a billion years. Instead, an accretion disk would form around the black hole, similar to that seen in stellar black holes at the centers of galaxies. The black hole itself then produces starlight. According to the researchers, such stars are likely to emit different acoustic signals than stars where nuclear fusion is still occurring. Additionally, slight changes in brightness could be observed on the surface. Scientists want to know what they will look like in the future. The current study was published in the Astrophysical Journal. The researchers named this new type of hypothetical object a “Hawking star.” Like normal stars, such stars turn into red giants at the end of their lives. But they will be brighter. Such objects have already been discovered in the Milky Way. The remains of a primordial black hole have not yet been discovered and remain hypothetical. Some researchers suspect that they “hide” in the core of a neutron star, a dead star. Hawking himself suspected that a black hole could exist inside the sun.