The Compact-Relic Inheritance Hypothesis: A Black Hole Dominated Alternative Framework for the Dark Matter Problem

This preprint introduces the Compact-Relic Inheritance Hypothesis, a testable cosmological framework proposing that part of the gravitational mismatch currently attributed to dark matter may instead arise from an inherited, undercounted population of compact relics, including primordial black holes, rogue black holes, merger-grown black holes, and ancient black-hole-like remnants. The paper argues that galaxies may differ in their inherited compact-object inventories, producing galaxy-by-galaxy variation in apparent dark matter content. The hypothesis is presented as an alternative or complementary framework to particle dark matter, with proposed observational tests involving gravitational-wave rates, microlensing, galaxy halo structure, dark-matter-deficient galaxies, and compact-object signatures.