A note on Weyl transformations in two-dimensional dilaton gravity

We discuss Weyl (conformal) transformations in two-dimensional matterless dilaton gravity. We argue that both classical and quantum dilaton gravity theories are invariant under Weyl transformations.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Black hole and brane production in TeV gravity: A review

In models with large extra dimensions particle collisions with center-of-mass energy larger than the fundamental gravitational scale can generate non-perturbative gravitational objects such as black holes and branes. The formation and the subsequent decay of these super-Planckian objects would be detectable in particle colliders and high energy cosmic ray detectors, and have interesting implications in cosmology and astrophysics. In this paper we present a review of black hole and brane production in TeV-scale gravity.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figures, submitted to the Int. Jou. Mod. Phys.

Catfish: A Monte Carlo simulator for black holes at the LHC

We present a new Fortran Monte Carlo generator to simulate black hole events at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The generator interfaces to the PYTHIA Monte Carlo fragmentation code. The physics of the BH generator includes, but not limited to, inelasticity effects, exact field emissivities, corrections to semiclassical black hole evaporation and gravitational energy loss at formation. These features are essential to realistically reconstruct the detector response and test different models of black hole formation and decay at the LHC.Comment: 22 pages, 8 eps figures. Matches version already published in Computer Physics Communications. CATFISH code and documentation are available at http://www.phy.olemiss.edu/GR/catfis

QCD and spin effects in black hole airshowers

In models with large extra dimensions, black holes may be produced in high-energy particle collisions. We revisit the physics of black hole formation in extensive airshowers from ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, focusing on collisional QCD and black hole emissivity effects. New results for rotating black holes are presented. Monte Carlo simulations show that QCD effects and black hole spin produce no observable signatures in airshowers. These results further confirm that the main characteristics of black hole-induced airshowers do not depend on the fine details of micro black hole models.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Supersymmetry versus black holes at the LHC

Supersymmetry and extra dimensions are the two most promising candidates for new physics at the TeV scale. Supersymmetric particles or extra-dimensional effects could soon be observed at the Large Hadron Collider. We propose a simple but powerful method to discriminate the two models: the analysis of isolated leptons with high transverse momentum. Black hole events are simulated with the CATFISH black hole generator. Supersymmetry simulations use a combination of PYTHIA and ISAJET, the latter providing the mass spectrum. Our results show the measure of the dilepton invariant mass provides a strong signature to differentiate supersymmetry and black hole events at the Large Hadron Collider. Analysis of event-shape variables and multilepton events complement and strengthen this conclusion.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Signatures of black holes at the LHC

Signatures of black hole events at CERN's Large Hadron Collider are discussed. Event simulations are carried out with the Fortran Monte Carlo generator CATFISH. Inelasticity effects, exact field emissivities, color and charge conservation, corrections to semiclassical black hole evaporation, gravitational energy loss at formation and possibility of a black hole remnant are included in the analysis.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Black hole particle emission in higher-dimensional spacetimes

In models with extra dimensions, a black hole evaporates both in the bulk and on the visible brane, where standard model fields live. The exact emissivities of each particle species are needed to determine how the black hole decay proceeds. We compute and discuss the absorption cross-sections, the relative emissivities and the total power output of all known fields in the evaporation phase. Graviton emissivity is highly enhanced as the spacetime dimensionality increases. Therefore, a black hole loses a significant fraction of its mass in the bulk. This result has important consequences for the phenomenology of black holes in models with extra dimensions and black hole detection in particle colliders.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4. v3: Misprints in Tables correcte