Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

by Michio Kaku

Mini–black holes were introduced again by Stephen Hawking, who proved that black holes must evaporate and emit a faint glow of energy. Over many eons, a black hole would emit so much energy that it would gradually shrink, eventually becoming the size of a subatomic particle. String theory is now reintroducing the concept of mini–black holes. Recall that black holes form when a large amount of matter is compressed to within its Schwarzschild radius. Because mass and energy can be converted into each other, black holes can also be created by compressing energy. There is considerable interest in whether the LHC may be able to produce mini–black holes among the debris created by smashing two protons together at 14 trillion electron volts of energy. These black holes would be very tiny, weighing perhaps only a thousand times the mass of an electron, and last for only 10-23 seconds. But they would be clearly visible among the tracks of subatomic particles created by the LHC.