Does charge matter in high-energy collisions of black holes?

Abstract

We perform numerical-relativity simulations of high-energy head-on collisions of charged black holes with the same charge-to-mass ratio $\lambda$. We find that electromagnetic interactions have subdominant effects already at low Lorentz factors $\gamma$, supporting the conjecture that the details of the properties of black holes (e.g., their spin or charge) play a secondary role in these phenomena. Using this result and conservation of energy, we argue these events cannot violate cosmic censorship.