Black hole formation in the head-on collision of ultrarelativistic charges

Abstract

We study black hole formation in the head-on collision of ultrarelativistic charges. The metric of charged particles is obtained by boosting the Reissner-Nordstr\om spacetime to the speed of light. Using the slice at the instant of collision, we study formation of the apparent horizon (AH) and derive a condition indicating that a critical value of the electric charge is necessary for formation to take place. Evaluating this condition for characteristic values at the LHC, we find that the presence of charge decreases the black hole production rate in accelerators. We comment on possible limitations of our approach.