title: Black hole production by cosmic rays.
abstract: Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays create black holes in scenarios with extra dimensions and TeV-scale gravity. In particular, cosmic neutrinos will produce black holes deep in the atmosphere, initiating quasihorizontal showers far above the standard model rate. At the Auger Observatory, hundreds of black hole events may be observed, providing evidence for extra dimensions and the first opportunity for experimental study of microscopic black holes. If no black holes are found, the fundamental Planck scale must be above 2 TeV for any number of extra dimensions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Alfred D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Shapere