Does charge matter in high-energy collisions of black holes?

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to analyze high-energy collisions of charged black holes, revealing electromagnetic effects are minor and supporting the idea that such collisions do not violate cosmic censorship.

Contribution

It demonstrates that electromagnetic interactions are subdominant in high-energy black hole collisions, supporting the cosmic censorship conjecture.

Findings

Electromagnetic effects are minor at low Lorentz factors.

Black hole properties like charge have secondary effects.

Collisions do not violate cosmic censorship.

Abstract

We perform numerical-relativity simulations of high-energy head-on collisions of charged black holes with the same charge-to-mass ratio $\lambda$. We find that electromagnetic interactions have subdominant effects already at low Lorentz factors $\gamma$, supporting the conjecture that the details of the properties of black holes (e.g., their spin or charge) play a secondary role in these phenomena. Using this result and conservation of energy, we argue these events cannot violate cosmic censorship.