Overcharging dilaton black holes in (2 + 1) dimensions to extremality and beyond

Abstract

We test whether static charged dilaton black holes in [Formula: see text] dimensions can be turned into naked singularities by sending in test particles from infinity. We derive that overcharging is possible and generic for both extremal and nearly extremal black holes. Our analysis also implies that nearly extremal charged dilaton black holes can be continuously driven to extremality and beyond, unlike nearly extremal Ban̆ados–Teitelboim–Zanelli, Kerr and Reissner–Nordström black holes which are overspun or overcharged by a discrete jump. Thus, the weak form of the cosmic censorship conjecture and the third law of black hole thermodynamics are both violated in the interaction of charged dilaton black holes in [Formula: see text] dimensions, with test particles. We also derive that there exist no points, where the heat capacity vanishes or diverges in the transition from black holes to naked singularities. The phase transitions that could potentially prevent the formation of naked singularities do not occur.