What we (don't) know about black hole formation in high-energy collisions

Abstract

Higher-dimensional scenarios allow for the formation of mini-black holes from TeV-scale particle collisions. The purpose of this paper is to review and compare different methods for the estimate of the total gravitational energy emitted in this process. To date, black hole formation has mainly been studied using an apparent horizon search technique. This approach yields only an upper bound on the gravitational energy emitted during black hole formation. Alternative calculations based on instantaneous collisions of point particles and black hole perturbation theory suggest that the emitted gravitational energy may be smaller. New and more refined methods may be necessary to accurately describe black hole formation in high-energy particle collisions.