Ultra Relativistic Particle Collisions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates through numerical solutions that ultra-relativistic soliton collisions can result in black hole formation, confirming theoretical predictions about gravitational collapse at high energies.

Contribution

First numerical evidence showing black hole formation from ultra-relativistic soliton collisions, supporting hoop conjecture in high-energy gravitational interactions.

Findings

Black hole formation occurs at sufficiently high collision energies.

Non-linear gravitational interactions cause collapse during ultra-relativistic collisions.

Results support the robustness of black hole formation arguments in super-Planck scale collisions.

Abstract

We present results from numerical solution of the Einstein field equations describing the head-on collision of two solitons boosted to ultra relativistic energies. We show, for the first time, that at sufficiently high energies the collision leads to black hole formation, consistent with hoop conjecture arguments. This implies that the non-linear gravitational interaction between the kinetic energy of the solitons causes gravitational collapse, and that arguments for black hole formation in super-Planck scale particle collisions are robust.