Moduli destabilization via gravitational collapse

Abstract

We examine the interplay between gravitational collapse and moduli stability in the context of black hole formation. We perform numerical simulations of the collapse using the double null formalism and show that the very dense regions one expects to find in the process of black hole formation are able to destabilize the volume modulus. We establish that the effects of the destabilization will be visible to an observer at infinity, opening up a window to a region in spacetime where standard model's couplings and masses can differ significantly from their background values.