Planck scale physics and topology change through an exactly solvable model

We consider the collapse of a charged radiation fluid in a Planck-suppressed quadratic extension of General Relativity (GR) formulated à la Palatini. We obtain exact analytical solutions that extend the charged Vaidya-type solution of GR, which allows to explore in detail new physics at the Planck scale. Starting from Minkowski space, we find that the collapsing fluid generates wormholes supported by the electric field. We discuss the relevance of our findings in relation to the quantum foam structure of space–time and the meaning of curvature divergences in this theory.