High energy collision of two particles in wormhole spacetimes

TL;DR

This paper investigates particle collisions in Teo wormhole spacetimes, demonstrating that rotating wormholes can accelerate particles to high energies, unlike non-rotating ones, providing insights into wormhole stability without involving horizons or singularities.

Contribution

It is the first study showing high-energy particle collisions in a wormhole spacetime lacking an event horizon or naked singularity, highlighting the role of rotation in particle acceleration.

Findings

Rotating Teo wormholes can accelerate particles to high energies.

Non-rotating Teo wormholes cannot serve as particle accelerators.

High-energy collisions occur without horizons or singularities.

Abstract

We study the collision of two particles in the Teo wormhole spacetime, in which the wormhole is stationary and axisymmetric. We show that a non-rotating Teo wormhole cannot be a particle accelerator, while a rotating Teo wormhole can be used to accelerate particles and create high energy collisions because of the deep effective potential of the colliding particles. The process is different from that in the vicinity of a near-extremal black hole, since here there is no event horizon. This is the first example of particle collision with high center-of-mass energy in a spacetime with no event horizon, no naked singularity, and not being extremal in a clear sense. The process can unlikely have direct implications for astrophysical observations, but it is interesting as a tool to investigate wormhole instabilities.