High energy gravitational scattering: a numerical study

Abstract

The S-matrix in gravitational high energy scattering is computed from the region of large impact parameters b down to the regime where classical gravitational collapse is expected to occur. By solving the equation of an effective action introduced by Amati, Ciafaloni and Veneziano we find that the perturbative expansion around the leading eikonal result diverges at a critical value signalling the onset of a new regime. We then discuss the main features of our explicitly unitary S-matrix down to the Schwarzschild's radius R=2G s^(1/2), where it diverges at a critical value b ~ 2.22 R of the impact parameter. The nature of the singularity is studied with particular attention to the scaling behaviour of various observables at the transition. The numerical approach is validated by reproducing the known exact solution in the axially symmetric case to high accuracy.

11 pages, 6 figures

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• Asymptotic safety and Kaluza-Klein gravitons at the LHC
• Gravitational bremsstrahlung in ultra-planckian collisions
• Microscopic unitary description of tidal excitations in high-energy string-brane collisions
• Unitarity restoring graviton radiation in the collapse regime of scattering
• Radiation enhancement and "temperature" in the collapse regime of gravitational scattering