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A scanning helium microscope typically utilises a thermal energy helium atom beam, with an energy and wavelength (<100 meV, ~0.05 nm) particularly sensitive to surface structure. An angular detector stage for a scanning helium microscope is presented that facilitates the in-situ measurement of scattering distributions from a sample. We begin by demonstrating typical elastic and inelastic scattering from ordered surfaces. We then go on to show the role of topography in diffuse scattering from disordered surfaces, observing deviations from simple cosine scattering. In total, these studies demonstrate the wealth of information that is encoded into the scattering distributions obtained with the technique., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

Black holes play an important role in linking microphysics with macrophysics, with those of the Planck mass ($M_P \sim10^{-5}$g) featuring in any theory of quantum gravity. In particular, the Compton-Schwarzschild correspondence posits a smooth transition between the Compton wavelength ($R_C \propto 1/M$) below the Planck mass and the Schwarzschild radius ($R_{\rm S} \propto M$) above it. The duality between $R_{\rm C}$ and $R_{\rm S}$ implies a form of the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) and suggests that elementary particles may be sub-Planckian black holes. The simplest possibility is that the ADM mass has the form $M + \beta M_P^2/M$ for some constant $\beta$ and this model can be extended to charged and rotating black holes, clearly relevant to elementary particles. Another possibility is that sub-Planckian black holes may arise in loop quantum gravity and this explicitly links black holes and elementary particles. Higher dimensions may modify both proposals. If there are $n$ extra dimensions, all with the same compactification scale, one expects $R_{\rm S} \propto M^{1/(1+n)}$ below this scale but $R_{\rm C}$ depends on the form of the higher-dimensional wave-function. If it is spherically symmetric, then $R_{\rm C} \propto M^{-1}$, so duality is broken and the Planck mass is reduced, allowing the possibility of TeV quantum gravity. If the wave-function is pancaked in the extra dimensions, $R_{\rm C} \propto M^{-1/(1+n)}$ and so duality is preserved but the Planck mass is unchanged., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

The LIGO discoveries have rekindled suggestions that primordial black holes (BHs) may constitute part to all of the dark matter (DM) in the Universe. Such suggestions came from 1) the observed merger rate of the BHs, 2) their unusual masses, 3) their low/zero spins, and 4) also from the independently uncovered cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations signal of high amplitude and coherence with unresolved cosmic X-ray background (CXB). Here we summarize the prospects to resolve this important issue with electromagnetic observations using the instruments and tools expected in the 2020's. These prospects appear promising to make significant, and potentially critical, advances. We demonstrate that in the next decade, new space- and ground-borne electromagnetic instruments, combined with concurrent theoretical efforts, should shed critical light on the long-considered link between primordial BHs and DM. Specifically the new data and methodologies under this program will involve: I) Probing with high precision the spatial spectrum of source-subtracted CIB with Euclid and WFIRST, and its coherence with unresolved cosmic X-ray background using eROSITA and Athena, II) Advanced searches for microlensing of Galactic stars by the intervening Galactic Halo BHs with OGLE, Gaia, LSST and WFIRST, III) Supernovae (SNe) lensing in the upcoming surveys with WFIRST, LSST and also potentially with Euclid and JWST, IV) Advanced theoretical work to understand the details of PBH accretion and evolution and their influence on cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in light of the next generation CMB experiments, V) Better new samples and theoretical understanding involving stability and properties of ultra faint dwarf galaxies, pulsar timing, and cosmological quasar lensing., Comment: Science whitepaper submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey

We completely classify Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker solutions with spatial curvature $K=0,\pm 1$ and equation of state $p=w\rho$, according to their conformal structure, singularities and trapping horizons. We do not assume any energy conditions and allow $\rho < 0$, thereby going beyond the usual well-known solutions. For each spatial curvature, there is an initial spacelike big-bang singularity for $w>-1/3$ and $\rho>0$, while no big-bang singularity for $w<-1$ and $\rho>0$. For $K=0$ or $-1$, $-10$, there is an initial null big-bang singularity. For each spatial curvature, there is a final spacelike future big-rip singularity for $w<-1$ and $\rho>0$, with null geodesics being future complete for $-5/3\le w<-1$ but incomplete for $w<-5/3$. For $w=-1/3$, the expansion speed is constant. For $-1-1/3$, the universe contracts from infinity, then bounces and expands to infinity; for $-1

There appears to be a duality between elementary particles, which span the mass range below the Planck scale, and black holes, which span the mass range range above it. In particular, the Black Hole Uncertainty Principle Correspondence posits a smooth transition between the Compton and Schwarzschild scales as a function of mass. This suggests that all black holes are in some sense quantum, that elementary particles can be interpreted as sub-Planckian black holes, and that there is a subtle connection between quantum and classical physics., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 2015 Karl Schwarzschild Meeting on Gravitational Physics, eds. P. Nicolini, J. Mureika, M. Kaminski and M. Bleicher

The fraction of the Universe going into primordial black holes (PBHs) with initial mass M_* \approx 5 \times 10^{14} g, such that they are evaporating at the present epoch, is strongly constrained by observations of both the extragalactic and Galactic gamma-ray backgrounds. However, while the dominant contribution to the extragalactic background comes from the time-integrated emission of PBHs with initial mass M_*, the Galactic background is dominated by the instantaneous emission of those with initial mass slightly larger than M_* and current mass below M_*. Also, the instantaneous emission of PBHs smaller than 0.4 M_* mostly comprises secondary particles produced by the decay of directly emitted quark and gluon jets. These points were missed in the earlier analysis by Lehoucq et al. using EGRET data. For a monochromatic PBH mass function, with initial mass (1+\mu) M_* and \mu << 1, the current mass is (3\mu)^{1/3} M_* and the Galactic background constrains the fraction of the Universe going into PBHs as a function of \mu. However, the initial mass function cannot be precisely monochromatic and even a tiny spread of mass around M_* would generate a current low-mass tail of PBHs below M_*. This tail would be the main contributor to the Galactic background, so we consider its form and the associated constraints for a variety of scenarios with both extended and nearly-monochromatic initial mass functions. In particular, we consider a scenario in which the PBHs form from critical collapse and have a mass function which peaks well above M_*. In this case, the largest PBHs could provide the dark matter without the M_* ones exceeding the gamma-ray background limits., Comment: 27 pages, 16 figures, REVTeX 4.1