Black Holes from Colliding Wavepackets

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that black hole formation in high-energy particle collisions is valid when considering quantum wavepackets or continuous matter, addressing issues with classical point-particle models and their large curvatures.

Contribution

It clarifies that black holes form in realistic quantum scenarios, resolving issues from classical models with large curvatures and quantum fluctuations.

Findings

Trapped surfaces form in quantum wavepacket models.

Classical point-particle approximation can be misleading.

Black hole formation is confirmed in controlled quantum regimes.

Abstract

Arguments for black hole formation in collisions of high-energy particles have rested on the emergence of a closed trapped surface in the classical geometry of two colliding Aichelburg-Sexl solutions. Recent analysis has, however, shown that curvatures and quantum fluctuations are large on this apparent horizon, potentially invalidating a semiclassical analysis. We show that this problem is an artifact of the unphysical classical point-particle limit: for a particle described by a quantum wavepacket, or for a continuous matter distribution, trapped surfaces indeed form in a controlled regime.