Black hole production in TeV-scale gravity, and the future of high energy physics

TL;DR

The paper surveys TeV-scale gravity scenarios—notably ADD-like large extra dimensions and warped compactifications—as a unified framework and assesses the phenomenology of black hole production at colliders and in cosmic ray interactions. It derives semiclassical estimates for black hole formation cross sections, decay channels, and observable signatures, highlighting how BHs would manifest as high-multiplicity, high-energy events with distinctive hadronic dominance and potential spin signatures, and how production rates scale with energy as $\sigma\sim\pi r_h^2(\sqrt{s})$ and $\sigma\propto s^{1/(D-3)}$. It extends the discussion to cosmic rays, where ultra-high-energy neutrinos could probe TeV-scale gravity via $\nu p\rightarrow BH$, offering complementary observational windows in detectors like Auger and IceCube. The paper concludes that BH production would mark the end of conventional short-distance physics but would open new avenues to study the geography of extra dimensions, while outlining strategic considerations for pursuing long-range experimental programs beyond the LHC. Overall, it articulates a vision where strong gravity phenomena at the TeV scale could radically reshape our approach to high-energy physics and the experimental roadmap ahead.

Abstract

If the Planck scale is near a TeV, black hole production should be possible at colliders, as well as by cosmic rays. I begin with a review of the two approaches to TeV-scale gravity, large extra dimensions and warped compactification, presented in a unified framework. Then properties of such black holes and estimates of their production rates are given, and consequences for the future of high-energy experimental physics are discussed.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: Schematic of a warped compactification.
• Figure 2: Shown is a black hole on a brane in a compactification with large or warped extra dimensions. We consider the approximation where the black hole size is small as compared to characteristic geometrical scales.