PBH abundance from random Gaussian curvature perturbations and a local density threshold

The production rate of primordial black holes is often calculated by considering a nearly Gaussian distribution of cosmological perturbations, and assuming that black holes will form in regions where the amplitude of such perturbations exceeds a certain threshold. A threshold $\zeta_{\rm th}$ for the curvature perturbation is somewhat inappropriate for this purpose, because it depends significantly on environmental effects, not essential to the local dynamics. By contrast, a threshold $\delta_{\rm th}$ for the density perturbation at horizon crossing seems to provide a more robust criterion. On the other hand, the density perturbation is known to be bounded above by a maximum limit $\delta_{\rm max}$, and given that $\delta_{\rm th}$ is comparable to $\delta_{\rm max}$, the density perturbation will be far from Gaussian near or above the threshold. In this paper we provide a new plausible estimate for the primordial black hole abundance based on peak theory. In our approach, we assume a Gaussian distribution for the curvature perturbation, while an optimized criterion for PBH formation is imposed, based on the locally averaged density perturbation around the nearly spherically symmetric high peaks. Both variables are related by the full nonlinear expression derived in the long-wavelength approximation of general relativity. We find that the mass spectrum is shifted to larger mass scales by one order of magnitude or so, compared to a conventional calculation. The abundance of PBHs becomes significantly larger than the conventional one, by many orders of magnitude, mainly due to the optimized criterion for PBH formation.