Acceleration of particles by black holes: Kinematic explanation

A new simple and general explanation of the effect of acceleration of particles by black holes to infinite energies in the center of mass frame is suggested. It is based on kinematics of particles moving near the horizon. This effect arises when particles of two kinds collide near the horizon. For massive particles, the first kind represents a particle with the generic energy and angular momentum (I call them “usual”). Near the horizon, such a particle has a velocity almost equal to that of light in the frame that corotates with a black hole (the frame is static if a black hole is static). The second kind (called “critical”) consists of particles with the velocity $v<c$ near the horizon due to special relationship between the energy and angular momentum (or charge). As a result, the relative velocity approaches the speed of light $c$, and the Lorentz factor grows unbound. This explanation applies both to generic rotating black holes and charged ones (even for radial motion of particles). If one of the colliding particles is massless (photon), the critical particle is distinguished by the fact that its frequency is finite near the horizon. The existence (or absence) of the effect is determined depending on competition of two factors—gravitational blue shift for a photon propagating towards a black hole and the Doppler effect due to transformation from the locally nonrotating frame to a comoving one. Classification of all possible types of collisions is suggested depending on whether massive or massless particle is critical or usual.