Black hole remnants may exist if Starobinsky inflation occurred

Abstract

Zero temperature black hole solutions to the semiclassical backreaction equations are investigated. Evidence is provided that certain components of the stress-energy tensors for free quantum fields at the horizon only depend on the local geometry near the horizon. This allows the semiclassical backreaction equations to be solved near the horizon. It is found that macroscopic uncharged zero temperature black hole solutions to the equations may exist if the coefficient of one of the higher derivative terms in the gravitational Lagrangian is large enough and of the right sign for Starobinsky inflation to have occurred in the early Universe.