Notes on primordial black hole origin for thermal gamma-ray bursts

Recently, an alleged plausible astrophysical scenario was proposed for the production of observed thermal gamma-ray bursts, via Hawking radiation emitted from a primordial black hole (PBH) freely falling into a more massive black hole. Here, the implausibility of that scenario is demonstrated, and the key flaws in that paper’s calculations and assumptions are elucidated through a discussion of some common misconceptions concerning black holes and general relativity. In particular, the predicted radiance observed from Earth is found to be orders of magnitude lower than what any instrument could detect, and the PBH–BH merger signature would be completely overwhelmed by the background Hawking signature from free PBHs.