Eur. Phys. J. C (2012) 72: 2146
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-012-2146-3

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Minimum black hole mass from colliding Gaussian packets

¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Bologna, via Irnerio 46, 40126, Bologna, Italy
² Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, via Irnerio 46, 40126, Bologna, Italy
³ Institute of Space Science, P.O. Box MG-23, 077125, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania

^* e-mail: roberto.casadio@bo.infn.it

Received: 9 August 2012
Published online: 8 September 2012

Abstract

We study the formation of a black hole in the collision of two Gaussian packets. Rather than following their dynamical evolution in detail, we assume a horizon forms when the mass function for the two packets becomes larger than half the flat areal radius, as it would occur in a spherically symmetric geometry. This simple approximation allows us to determine the existence of a minimum black hole mass solely related to the width of the packets. We then comment on the possible physical implications, both in classical and quantum physics, and models with extra spatial dimensions.