Gedanken experiments to destroy a black hole by a test particle: Multiply charged black hole with higher derivative corrections

Abstract

We investigate a gedanken experiment to destroy an extremally charged black hole by dropping a test particle, provided that there are multiple U(1) gauge fields coupled with each other through higher derivative interactions. It is known that the Coulomb repulsion prevents a test particle that would break the extremal condition from falling into an extremal black hole and therefore the black hole cannot be destroyed. We extend this observation to include higher derivative corrections. Although the extremal condition is modified by the higher derivative interactions, we find that the repulsive force induced by the higher derivative couplings is responsible for preventing a test particle that would break the modified extremal condition to reach the event horizon. Thus, we confirm that the weak cosmic censorship conjecture holds for extremally charged black holes even in the presence of higher derivative corrections, as long as the test particle approximation is justified. Published by the American Physical Society 2024