High energy colliders as black hole factories: The end of short distance physics

Steven B. Giddings and Scott Thomas
Phys. Rev. D 65, 056010 – Published 12 February 2002
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Abstract

If the fundamental Planck scale is of order of a TeV, as is the case in some extra-dimension scenarios, future hadron colliders such as the CERN Large Hadron Collider will be black hole factories. The nonperturbative process of black hole formation and decay by Hawking evaporation gives rise to spectacular events with up to many dozens of relatively hard jets and leptons with a characteristic ratio of hadronic to leptonic activity of roughly 5:1. The total transverse energy of such events is typically a sizable fraction of the beam energy. Perturbative hard scattering processes at energies well above the Planck scale are cloaked behind a horizon, thus limiting the ability to probe short distances. The high energy black hole cross section grows with energy at a rate determined by the dimensionality and geometry of the extra dimensions. This dependence therefore probes the extra dimensions at distances larger than the Planck scale.

  • Received 28 June 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.65.056010

©2002 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Steven B. Giddings

  • Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
  • Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4030

Scott Thomas

  • Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4030
  • Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

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Vol. 65, Iss. 5 — 1 March 2002

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