Black Hole Explosions as Probes of New Physics

Abstract

The final stage of black hole evaporation is a potent probe of physics beyond the Standard Model: Hawking-Bekenstein radiation may be affected by quantum gravity "memory burden effects", or by the presence of "dark", beyond-the-Standard-Model degrees of freedom in ways that are testable with high-energy gamma-ray observations. We argue that information on either scenario can best be inferred from measurements of the evaporation's lightcurve and by correlating observations at complementary energies. We offer several new analytical insights in how such observations map on the fundamental properties of the evaporating black holes and of the possible exotic particles they can evaporate into.

Comments: 23 pages, 9 figures