Gravitationally Collapsed Objects of Very Low Mass

Abstract

It is suggested that there may be a large number of gravitationally collapsed objects of mass 10^–5 g upwards which were formed as a result of fluctuations in the early Universe. They could carry an electric charge of up to ± 30 electron units. Such objects would produce distinctive tracks in bubble chambers and could form atoms with orbiting electrons or protons. A mass of 10¹⁷ g of such objects could have accumulated at the centre of a star like the Sun. If such a star later became a neutron star there would be a steady accretion of matter by a central collapsed object which could eventually swallow up the whole star in about ten million years.