Tests of Classical Gravity Description for Microscopic Black Hole Production

Abstract

The classical Einstein gravity description of black hole production in transplanckian collisions in TeV-scale gravity is tested for self-consistency. In addition to the "curvature must be small" test, which was shown to be violated in [hep-ph/0401116], it is proposed to estimate quantum fluctuations in the Aichelburg-Sexl shock waves corresponding to the colliding particles. Using linearized quantum gravity, it is found that the occupation numbers of gravitons with characteristic frequency are too small to resolve the classical width of the shocks. This raises further doubts in the classical gravity picture of black hole creation and the geometric cross section estimate based on it.