Mass-gap for black hole formation in higher derivative and ghost free gravity

Abstract

We study a spherical gravitational collapse of a small mass in higher derivative and ghost free theories of gravity. By boosting a solution of linearized equations for a static point mass in such theories we obtain in the Penrose limit the gravitational field of an ultra-relativistic particle. Taking a superposition of such solutions we construct a metric of a collapsing null shell in the linearized higher derivative and ghost free gravity. The latter allows one to find the gravitational field of a thick null shell. By analysing these solutions we demonstrate that in a wide class of the higher dimensional theories of gravity as well as for the ghost free gravity there exists a mass gap for the mini black hole production. We also found conditions when the curvature invariants remain finite at $r=0$ for the collapse of the thick null shell.