COSMOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS ON PRIMORDIAL BLACK-HOLES PRODUCED IN THE NEAR-CRITICAL GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE - ART. NO. 107502

The mass function of primordial black holes created through the near-c ritical gravitational collapse is calculated in a manner fairly indepe ndent of the statistical distribution of underlying density fluctuatio n, assuming that it has a sharp peak on a specific scale. Comparing it with various cosmological constraints on their mass spectrum, some ne wly excluded range is found in the volume fraction of the region colla psing into black holes as a function of the horizon mass. [S0556-2821( 98)04620-7].