Abstract
Using a recent technique, proposed by Eardley and Giddings, we extend their results to the high-energy collision of two beams of massless particles, i.e. of two finite-front shock waves. Closed (marginally) trapped surfaces can be determined analytically in several cases even for collisions at non-vanishing impact parameter in D ⩾ 4 space-time dimensions. We are able to confirm and extend earlier conjectures by Yurtsever, and to deal with arbitrary axisymmetric profiles, including an amusing case of ``fractal'' beams. We finally discuss some implications of our results in high-energy experiments and in cosmology.
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