The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that in models with large extra dimensions under special conditions one can extract information from the interior of 4D black holes. For this purpose we study an induced geometry on a test brane in the background of a higher-dimensional static black string or a black brane. We show that, at the intersection surface of the test brane and the bulk black string or brane, the induced metric has an event horizon, so that the test brane contains a black hole. We call it a brane hole. When the test brane moves with a constant velocity $V$ with respect to the bulk black object, it also has a brane hole, but its gravitational radius $r_e$ is greater than the size of the bulk black string or brane $r_0$ by the factor $(1-V^2{)}^{-1}$. We show that bulk “photon” emitted in the region between $r_0$ and $r_e$ can meet the test brane again at a point outside $r_e$. From the point of view of observers on the test brane, the events of emission and capture of the bulk photon are connected by a spacelike curve in the induced geometry. This shows an example in which extra dimensions can be used to extract information from the interior of a lower-dimensional black object. Instead of the bulk black string or brane, one can also consider a bulk geometry without a horizon. We show that nevertheless the induced geometry on the moving test brane can include a brane hole. In such a case the extra dimensions can be used to extract information from the complete region of the brane-hole interior. We discuss thermodynamic properties of brane holes and interesting questions which arise when such an extra-dimensional channel for the information mining exists.

• Received 22 December 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.83.044052