In February, scientists detected the most energetic neutrino ever observed — a so-called “ghost particle” with over 100 peta-electron-volts of energy. That’s far beyond anything humans could ever achieve in a particle accelerator. But where did it come from?

A new MIT study suggests the answer might lie in one of the strangest objects in the universe: primordial black holes.

These are tiny black holes thought to have formed just after the Big Bang. Unlike stellar black holes, they could be no bigger than an atom — yet with the mass of a mountain. Over billions of years, they would slowly evaporate through a process called Hawking radiation, predicted by Stephen Hawking.

As they shrink, they get hotter, releasing higher-energy particles, until in their final instant they unleash a catastrophic burst. According to MIT physicists, if primordial black holes make up dark matter, then some of them should be exploding right now across the Milky Way.

And one of those final bursts may have happened close enough to send an ultra-high-energy neutrino straight to Earth — the very one recently detected.

If this theory is correct, it would mark the first-ever evidence of Hawking radiation, proof that primordial black holes exist, and even a solution to the mystery of dark matter — which makes up 85% of the universe.

As the researchers put it: “It’s a small chance, but one we have to take seriously. This could be our best shot at finally seeing Hawking radiation.”