Choptuik Scaling and Quantum Effects in 2D Dilaton Gravity

Abstract

We study numerically the collapse of massless scalar fields in two-dimensional dilaton gravity, both classically and semiclassically. At the classical level, we find that the black hole mass scales at threshold like $M_{\rm bh} \propto |p-p^*|^{\gamma}$, where $\gamma \simeq 0.53$. At the semiclassical level, we find that in general $M_{\rm bh}$ approaches a non-zero constant as $p \rightarrow p^*$. Thus, quantum effects produce a mass gap not present classically at the onset of black hole formation.