Thermodynamic geometry and extremal black holes in string theory

Abstract

We study a generalisation of thermodynamic geometry to degenerate quantum ground states at zero temperatures exemplified by charged extremal black holes in type II string theories. Several examples of extremal charged black holes with non degenerate thermodynamic geometries and finite but non zero state space scalar curvatures are established. These include black holes described by D1-D5-P and D2-D6-NS5-P brane systems and also two charged small black holes in Type II string theories. We also explore the modifications to the state space geometry and the scalar curvature due to the higher derivative contributions and string loop corrections as well as an exact entropy expression from quantum information theory. Our construction describes state space geometries arising out of a possible limiting thermodynamic characterisation of degenerate quantum ground states at zero temperatures.