Sébastien Clesse (UCL – UNamur)

Title: Is Dark Matter made of Primordial Black Holes?

Abstract: The detection of gravitational waves by Advanced-LIGO/VIRGO has opened a wide new field of astronomy.   Strangely, the merging rate of massive black holes was found to be compatible with the rate expected if they constitute the Dark Matter.  This has revived the interest for Primordial Black Holes (PBH) formed in the early Universe constituting a fraction or even the totality of Dark Matter .  This scenario is however well constrained by other astrophysical observations.  I will review the pros and cons of this scenario, in the view of the most recent results and observations, and I will emphasize how PBH Dark Matter could resolve some long-standing cosmological and astrophysical puzzles.   The presentation will be understandable by a broad audience of mathematicians, physicists and students.