A new calculation of the mass fraction of primordial black holes

Abstract

We revisit the calculation of the abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs) formed from primordial density perturbations, using a formation criterion derived by Shibata and Sasaki which refers to a metric perturbation variable rather than the usual density contrast. We implement a derivation of the PBH abundance which uses peaks theory, and compare it to the standard calculation based on a Press--Schechter-like approach. We find that the two are in reasonable agreement if the Press--Schechter threshold is in the range $\Delta_{{\rm th}} \simeq 0.3$ to 0.5, but advocate use of the peaks theory expression which is based on a sounder theoretical footing.