Ratio of absorption cross section for Dirac fermion to that for scalar in the higher-dimensional black hole background

The ratio of the low-energy absorption cross section for Dirac fermion to that for minimally coupled scalar is computed when the spacetimes are various types of the higher-dimensional Reissner-Nordström black holes. It is found that the low-energy absorption cross sections for the Dirac fermion always goes to zero in the extremal limit regardless of the detailed geometry of the spacetime. The physical importance of our results is discussed in the context of the brane-world scenarios and string theories.