High-energy gravitational scattering and black hole resonances

Understand

Aspects of super-planckian gravitational scattering and black hole formation are investigated, largely via a partial-wave representation.

• At large and decreasing impact parameters, amplitudes are expected to be governed by single graviton exchange, and then by eikonalized graviton exchange, for which partial-wave amplitudes are derived.
• In the near-Schwarzschild regime, perturbation theory fails.
• However, general features of gravitational scattering associated with black hole formation suggest a particular form for amplitudes, which we express as a black hole ansatz.