Dynamics of colliding branes and black brane production

TL;DR

This paper investigates how self-gravity affects the collision dynamics of domain walls in five-dimensional supergravity, revealing that most collisions produce black branes with horizons, altering previous naive expectations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that including self-gravity in brane collision models leads to black brane formation, contrasting with non-gravitational scenarios where walls pass through or bounce without singularities.

Findings

Collision generally results in black brane formation with a horizon.

Non-relativistic weak field collisions often pass through or bounce without singularities.

Self-gravity significantly alters the naive collision outcomes of branes.

Abstract

We study the dynamics of colliding domain walls including self-gravity. The initial data is set up by applying a BPS domain wall in five-dimensional supergravity, and we evolve the system determining the final outcome of collisions. After a collision, a spacelike curvature singularity covered by a horizon is formed in the bulk, resulting in a black brane with trapped domain walls. This is a generic consequence of collisions, except for non-relativistic weak field cases, in which the walls pass through one another or multiple bounces take place without singularity formation. These results show that incorporating the self-gravity drastically changes a naive picture of colliding branes.