Schwarzschild black hole as accelerator of accelerated particles

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that particles near a Schwarzschild black hole can achieve unbounded collision energy if one particle is externally accelerated, highlighting acceleration's role in high-energy collisions even without black hole rotation or charge.

Contribution

It reveals that positive acceleration enables unbounded particle collision energy near nonextremal black holes, including Schwarzschild black holes, which was previously thought impossible.

Findings

Unbounded collision energy is possible with acceleration near Schwarzschild black holes.

External acceleration can induce high-energy collisions without black hole rotation or charge.

Bounded energy occurs if acceleration is attractive, leading to Penrose-like effects.

Abstract

We consider collision of two particles near the horizon of a nonextremal static black hole. At least one of them is accelerated. We show that the energy $E_{c.m.}$ in the center of mass can become unbounded in spite of the fact that a black hole is neither rotating nor electrically charged. In particular, this happens even for the Schwarzschild black hole. The key ingredient that makes it possible is the presence of positive acceleration (repulsion). Then, if one of particles is fine-tuned properly, the effect takes place. This acceleration can be caused by an external force in the case of particles or some engine in the case of a macroscopic body ("rocket"). If the force is attractive, $E_{c.m.}$ is bounded but, instead, the analogue of the Penrose effect is possible.