Physics

Supermassive black hole

Mathematics

Galaxy

Optics

Amplitude

Primordial black hole

Gravitational wave

Curvature

Geometry

Astrophysics

Gravitational wave background

Binary black hole

Physical Review Letters

We show that the recent NANOGrav result can be interpreted as a stochastic gravitational wave signal associated to formation of primordial black holes from high-amplitude curvature perturbations. The indicated amplitude and power of the gravitational wave spectrum agrees well with formation of primordial seeds for supermassive black holes.

Did NANOGrav See a Signal from Primordial Black Hole Formation?