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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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What If Dark Matter Is a Cosmic Mixture? New Study Reveals a Surprising Possibility

Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in modern science. Scientists know that something invisible exists throughout the universe because galaxies rotate faster than they should, galaxy clusters hold together with extra gravity, and the structure of the universe cannot be explained by visible matter alone. However, after many years of research, scientists still do not know exactly what dark matter is made of.

One exciting possibility is that dark matter may not come from only one source. Instead, the universe could contain different types of dark matter existing together. A new study explores a fascinating combination: ultralight dark matter (ULDM) and primordial black holes (PBHs).

This idea connects two completely different possibilities. Ultralight dark matter represents the lightest possible form of dark matter, behaving more like a wave than a normal particle. Primordial black holes represent one of the heaviest possibilities, consisting of extremely dense objects formed in the early universe. Researchers wanted to understand what happens when these two strange forms of matter exist together inside galaxies.

The Two Opposite Sides of Dark Matter

Dark matter theories cover a huge range of possible masses.

At one extreme are ultralight particles with extremely tiny masses, around 10⁻²² electron volts. These particles are so light that they do not behave like normal matter. Instead, they act like waves spreading across space.

This type of dark matter is often called fuzzy dark matter. Because of its wave-like nature, it can form special structures inside galaxies called solitons. These are dense regions at the centers of dark matter halos where the wave patterns become organized.

Unlike traditional dark matter models, where particles simply move around due to gravity, ultralight dark matter can create unique quantum-like effects. It can interfere with itself, create wave patterns, and influence how galaxies develop.

At the other extreme are primordial black holes.

These black holes are different from the ones created by collapsing stars. Scientists believe PBHs may have formed shortly after the Big Bang when some regions of the early universe became extremely dense and collapsed into black holes.

Because black holes contain enormous amounts of mass in a small space, they can influence their surroundings through gravity. Some researchers have suggested that primordial black holes could make up part of the missing dark matter.

A Universe With Mixed Dark Matter

The new research studies a galaxy where most dark matter is made of ultralight particles, but a small amount comes from primordial black holes.

The researchers created a model to understand how PBHs affect the ULDM environment. They separated the influence of PBHs into two different effects.

The first is the continuum effect.

In this case, scientists treat many PBHs together as a smooth distribution of mass. Instead of looking at each individual black hole, they study the overall gravitational effect created by the entire PBH population.

The second effect is called shot noise.

Unlike a smooth material, PBHs are individual objects scattered through space. Their random positions create small changes in gravity. These tiny fluctuations can disturb the wave-like structure of ultralight dark matter.

Understanding the difference between these two effects is important because they influence galaxies in very different ways.

Small Amount of PBHs Can Still Affect Dark Matter Structure

The researchers studied a typical galaxy containing:

  • Ultralight dark matter particles with a mass of 10⁻²² eV

  • A galaxy with a mass of about 10 billion Suns

  • Primordial black holes making up about 1% of the dark matter

The results were surprising.

The overall effect of PBHs on the galaxy’s average density and gravitational field was extremely small. The changes were less than one percent.

This means that if only a small percentage of dark matter is made of PBHs, they do not dramatically change the overall structure of the galaxy.

However, the researchers discovered something interesting inside the central region of the dark matter halo.

The soliton core, where ultralight dark matter behaves in a highly organized way, was more sensitive to the presence of PBHs. Even a small PBH contribution could change how different dark matter wave patterns participate in forming this region.

The study found that the internal wave structure of the soliton could change by around 20%.

So, while PBHs may not reshape the entire galaxy, they can still influence the hidden quantum behavior of ultralight dark matter.

Individual Black Holes Have Almost No Effect

The researchers also studied the impact of individual PBHs moving through the galaxy.

Because PBHs are separate objects, their gravity creates small disturbances. Scientists wanted to know if these disturbances could cause ultralight dark matter waves to change states or become heated over time.

However, the answer was surprising: the effect is extremely weak.

For PBHs with masses similar to our Sun, the fastest possible changes in ULDM wave states would take around billions of billions of years.

These timescales are far longer than the current age of the universe, which is about 13.8 billion years.

The heating effect caused by PBH fluctuations is also extremely slow. This means that ordinary stellar-mass primordial black holes would not significantly disturb ultralight dark matter structures during the lifetime of galaxies.

In simple words, individual black holes are too weak to destroy or strongly reshape the wave-like dark matter environment.

What Controls the Influence of PBHs?

The study shows that the influence of PBHs depends on two important factors.

The smooth gravitational effect mainly depends on the percentage of dark matter made of PBHs.

The effect of individual PBH fluctuations depends on both:

  • How many PBHs exist

  • How massive each PBH is

A small number of very heavy black holes could create stronger disturbances, while many small black holes would behave more like a smooth background.

This helps scientists understand which types of mixed dark matter models are possible and which effects could be detected in the future.

A New Direction in Dark Matter Research

For many years, scientists searched for one single explanation for dark matter. But this research supports a different idea: dark matter could be a combination of multiple components.

The universe may contain both tiny wave-like particles and massive compact objects, each contributing in different ways.

This study provides a new framework for understanding how these different forms of dark matter interact. It shows that primordial black holes and ultralight dark matter can exist together without causing major problems for galaxy formation.

Although PBHs may slightly modify the internal structure of ultralight dark matter, their individual gravitational effects appear too weak to create major changes in normal galaxies.

The mystery of dark matter remains unsolved, but studies like this bring scientists closer to understanding the hidden ingredients that shape our universe.

The answer may not be a single particle or object. Instead, dark matter could be a complex cosmic mixture, quietly influencing the universe in ways we are only beginning to discover.

Reference: Xing-Yu Yang, "Ultralight dark matter mixed with primordial black holes", Arxiv, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.31629

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