Problems with empirical bounds for strangelet production at RHIC

Abstract

Recent papers by Busza et al. and Dar et al. have considered empirical bounds on the risk of producing a hypothetical stable negatively charged strangelet at the Brookhaven relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC) experiments, and thereby destroying the Earth. We examine here ways in which these bounds could, hypothetically, be evaded. We find several,some of which have not previously been considered. These possible flaws do not affect the theoretical arguments against the existence of negatively charged strangelets or the possibility of producing them at RHIC if they were to exist.