Law Of Black Hole Mechanics Research Articles

Testing the first law of black hole mechanics with gravitational waves

Testing the first law of black hole mechanics with gravitational waves

Black hole zeroth law of the Einstein-complex scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity

The zeroth law of black hole mechanics asserts that the stationary black hole has a constant surface gravity on the event horizon. This study investigates the zeroth law within the Einstein-Scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, particularly involving a complex scalar field (ECSGB). Assuming that the Lie derivative of the complex scalar field is proportional to itself other than stationary, and that ECSGB gravity converges to the Einstein's gravity analyticaly as the coupling constant approaches zero, as well as the minimally coupled matter fields satisfy the dominant energy condition, we demonstrate that the surface gravity remains constant over the entire event horizon without reliance on additional symmetries.

Iyer-Wald ambiguities and gauge covariance of Entropy current in Higher derivative theories of gravity

In [1, 2] [arXiv:2105.06455, arXiv:2206.04538], the authors have been able to argue for an ultra-local version of the second law of black hole mechanics, for arbitrary diffeomorphism invariant theories of gravity non-minimally coupled to matter fields, by constructing an entropy current on the dynamical horizon with manifestly positive divergence. This has been achieved by working in the horizon-adapted coordinate system. In this work, we show that the local entropy production through the divergence of the entropy current is covariant under affine reparametrizations that leave the gauge of horizon-adapted coordinates invariant. We explicitly derive a formula for how the entropy current transforms under such coordinate transformations. This extends the analysis of [3] [arXiv:2204.08447] for arbitrary diffeomorphism invariant theories of gravity non-minimally coupled to matter fields. We also study the Iyer-Wald ambiguities of the covariant phase formalism that generically plague the components of the entropy current.

Revisiting α′ corrections to heterotic two-charge black holes

We find solutions of the heterotic string effective action describing the first-order α′ corrections to two-charge black holes at finite temperature. Making explicit use of these solutions, we compute the corrections to the thermodynamic quantities: temperature, chemical potentials, mass, charges and entropy. We check that the first law of black hole mechanics is satisfied and that the thermodynamics agrees with the one extracted from the Euclidean on-shell action. Finally, we show that our results are in agreement with the corrections for the thermodynamics recently predicted by Chen, Maldacena and Witten.

Nonperturbative Second Law of Black Hole Mechanics in Effective Field Theory.

We describe a method for defining dynamical black hole entropy in gravitational effective field theories. The entropy is constructed order by order in derivatives. For any fixed number of derivatives, the entropy satisfies a nonperturbative second law of black hole mechanics if the black hole remains within the regime of validity of effective field theories. In equilibrium the entropy reduces to the Wald entropy. It reduces to the entropy defined by Hollands etal. in theories of vacuum gravity with up to ten derivatives.

No logarithmic corrections to entropy in shift-symmetric Gauss-Bonnet gravity

Employing the covariant phase space formalism, we discuss black hole thermodynamics in four-dimensional scalar-tensor Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity. We argue that logarithmic corrections to Wald entropy previously reported in this theory do not appear, due to the symmetry of the theory under constant shifts of the scalar field. Instead, we obtain the standard Bekenstein entropy of general relativity. Then, to satisfy the first law of black hole mechanics, the Hawking temperature must be modified. It has been proposed that such temperature modifications occur generically in scalar-tensor theories, due to different propagation speeds of gravitons and photons. We show that the temperature modifications also emerge in the Euclidean canonical ensemble approach to black hole thermodynamics. Notably, the boundary terms of the type we consider here can be considered in any scalar-tensor gravitational theories. Hence, we illustrate that adding a suitable boundary term to action may drastically affect black hole thermodynamics, changing both the entropy and the temperature.

Black holes, equilibrium and cosmology

We trace the origins and development of black hole thermodynamics across the past half-century, emphasizing the framework’s relation to classical thermodynamics, and the vital role played by the notions of equilibrium, stationarity and symmetry. We discuss different interpretations of the first law of black hole mechanics, and assess the validity of its mechanical, process-based interpretation for evaporating black holes. We bring these ideas to the cosmological realm, and highlight the various difficulties that arise when formulating thermodynamics for black holes in asymptotically de Sitter backgrounds. We discuss a number of proposed solutions and the open questions that arise therein.

Regular black holes and the first law of black hole mechanics

Regular black holes and the first law of black hole mechanics

Note on the physical process first law of black hole mechanics

Note on the physical process first law of black hole mechanics

Boundary terms and conserved charges in higher-derivative gauged supergravity

We address some issues in higher-derivative gauged supergravity with Chern-Simons terms, focusing on the five-dimensional case. We discuss the variational problem with Dirichlet boundary conditions as well as holographic renormalization in asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes, and derive the corresponding boundary terms. We then employ Wald’s formalism in order to define conserved charges associated to local symmetries (diffeomorphisms and U(1) gauge transformations), taking into account the effect of generic gauge Chern-Simons terms. We prove that the first law of black hole mechanics and the quantum statistical relation hold in this setup. Chern-Simons terms also lead us to distinguish between Noether charges and Page (or Komar) charges which satisfy the Gauss law. We make use of the latter to compute corrections to the angular momentum and electric charge of the supersymmetric black hole in AdS5 from its corrected near-horizon geometry. This also allows us to derive the microcanonical form of the entropy as a function of the conserved charges relying entirely on the near-horizon geometry. Finally, we comment on four-derivative gauged supergravity in four dimensions, showing that field redefinitions permit to simplify the action at linear order in the corrections, so that the equations of motion are those of the two-derivative theory.

Dynamical Black Hole Entropy in Effective Field Theory

In recent work, Hollands, Kovács and Reall have built on previous work of Wall to provide a definition of dynamical black hole entropy for gravitational effective field theories (EFTs). This entropy satisfies a second law of black hole mechanics to quadratic order in perturbations around a stationary black hole. We determine the explicit form of this entropy for the EFT of 4d vacuum gravity including terms in the action with up to 6 derivatives. An open question concerns the gauge invariance of this definition of black hole entropy. We show that gauge invariance holds for the EFT of vacuum gravity with up to 6 derivatives but demonstrate that it can fail when 8 derivative terms are included. We determine an entropy for Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory by treating it as an EFT with vanishing 6 derivative terms.

Revisiting the second law and weak cosmic censorship conjecture in high-dimensional charged-AdS black hole: an additional assumption

The verification of the second law of black hole mechanics and the WCCC in the context of enthalpy as mass of the black hole and its related thermodynamic properties has not been tested through a vast number of literature in the recent past. Such studies are of great physical importance as they provide us with a large number of information regarding the thermodynamics and the dynamics of AdS black hole systems. We invest the prior limited surveys of such analysis to investigate the WCCC for the D- dimensional asymptotically AdS-charged black holes characterized by its mass (M), electric charge (Q), and AdS radius (l) under the absorption of scalar particles of charge q. We examine the WCCC by analyzing the energy-momentum condition of the electrically charged particles as absorbed by the black holes. We prove that the conjecture is well verified irrespective of whether the initial black hole configurations are extremal or non-extremal by changing its charge, the AdS radius, and their variations. We show that the first law and the WCCC are valid for all spacetime dimensions (D) independent of the choice of the parameters characterizing the black holes. But to verify the second law in the extremal and non- extremal configurations one has to be very cautious as it gets strongly affected by the choices of the values of the black hole parameters and their variations. In other words, we use charged particle dynamics as described by the Hamilton-Jacobi equation to obtain the energy-momentum relation as the charged particle dropped into the higher dimensional charged AdS black hole and verify the thermodynamic laws when the scalar charged particle gets absorbed by the black holes and correspondingly the black hole neutralization in different manners. Additionally, we further probe the validity of WCCC in such a black hole background. In the context of the extended phase space, taking the grand canonical potential into account allow us to obtain the missing information about the variation of the cosmological constant necessary to construct the extended phase space, namely the notion of the black hole pressure, and which is absent in the previous literature so far.

Noether charge formalism for Weyl transverse gravity

Weyl transverse gravity (WTG) is a gravitational theory that is invariant under transverse diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations. It is characterised by having the same classical solutions as general relativity while solving some of its issues with the cosmological constant. In this work, we first find the Noether currents and charges corresponding to local symmetries of WTG as well as a prescription for the symplectic form. We then employ these results to derive the first law of black hole mechanics in WTG (both in vacuum and in the presence of a perfect fluid), identifying the total energy, the total angular momentum, and the Wald entropy of black holes. We further obtain the first law and Smarr formula for Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter and pure de Sitter spacetimes, discussing the contributions of the varying cosmological constant, which naturally appear in WTG. Lastly, we derive the first law of causal diamonds in vacuum.

First law for Kerr Taub-NUT AdS black holes

The first law of black hole mechanics, which relates the change of energy to the change of entropy and other conserved charges, has been the main motivation for probing the thermodynamic properties of black holes. In this work, we investigate the thermodynamics of Kerr Taub-NUT AdS black holes. We present geometric Komar definitions for the black hole charges, that by construction satisfy the Smarr formula. Further, by a scaling argument based on Euler’s theorem, we establish the first law for the Kerr Taub-NUT AdS black holes. The corresponding first law includes variations in the cosmological constant, NUT charges and angular momenta. The key new ingredient in the construction are the independent variations of both angular momenta, the black hole and Misner string angular momenta. Employing the Brown-York quasi-local charge definitions we show that our expression for the mass and spin coincide with our generalized Komar expressions. We indicate the relevance of these results to the thermodynamics of rotating AdS black holes, including the proper choice of time-like Killing vector to produce the correct thermodynamic mass.

Noether charge formalism for Weyl invariant theories of gravity

Gravitational theories invariant under transverse diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations have the same classical solutions as the corresponding fully diffeomorphism invariant theories. However, they solve some of the problems related to the cosmological constant and in principle allow local energy non-conservation. In the present work, we obtain the Noether charge formalism for these theories. We first derive expressions for the Noether currents and charges corresponding to transverse diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations, showing that the latter vanish identically. We then use these results to obtain an expression for a perturbation of a Hamiltonian corresponding to evolution along a transverse diffeomorphism generator. From this expression, we derive the first law of black hole mechanics, identifying the total energy, the total angular momentum, the Wald entropy, and the contributions of the cosmological constant perturbations and energy non-conservation. Lastly, we extend our formalism to derive the first law of causal diamonds.

The second law of black hole mechanics in effective field theory

We investigate the second law of black hole mechanics in gravitational theories with higher derivative terms in the action. Wall has described a method for defining an entropy that satisfies the second law to linear order in perturbations around a stationary black hole. We show that this can be extended to define an entropy that satisfies the second law to quadratic order in perturbations, provided that one treats the higher derivative terms in the sense of effective field theory. We also address some outstanding issues with Wall’s method, in particular its gauge invariance and its relation to the Iyer-Wald entropy.

Dual charges for AdS spacetimes and the first law of black hole mechanics

We apply the recent derivations of dual charges in asymptotically flat spacetimes to asymptotically locally AdS spacetimes. In contrast to the results in the flat case, in the AdS case with a Dirichlet boundary the dual charge contribution vanishes at the leading order. However, by focusing on the Taub-NUT-AdS solution, we show that nevertheless, more generally, the dual charge is non-vanishing and corresponds to the NUT parameter. We propose a complex first law of black mechanics in the presence of NUT charges that is inspired by the naturally complex nature of the charges derived using Hamiltonian methods.

Holographic thermodynamics requires a chemical potential for color

The thermodynamic Euler equation for high-energy states of large-$N$ gauge theories is derived from the dependence of the extensive quantities on the number of colors $N$. This Euler equation relates the energy of the state to the temperature, entropy, number of degrees of freedom and its chemical potential, but not to the volume or pressure. In the context of the gauge/gravity duality we show that the Euler equation is dual to the generalized Smarr formula for black holes in the presence of a negative cosmological constant. We also match the fundamental variational equation of thermodynamics to the first law of black hole mechanics, when extended to include variations of the cosmological constant and Newton's constant.

String gravity in D=4

We revisit the four-dimensional theory of gravity that arises from string theory with higher-derivative corrections. By compactifying and truncating the ten-dimensional effective action of heterotic string theory at first order in $\alpha'$, and carefully dealing with field redefinitions, we show that the four-dimensional theory takes the form of an axidilaton model where the scalars couple to the Gauss-Bonnet and Pontryagin densities. Thus, the actual string gravity is a generalization of the well-studied Einstein-dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet and dynamical Chern-Simons models. Using this action we compute the stringy corrections to the Kerr geometry and we obtain, for the first time, the corrections to the entropy of the Kerr black hole at order $\alpha'^2$. We check that the first law of black hole mechanics is satisfied and discuss several properties of the solution. Our results suggest that there exist black hole solutions with $J>M^2$ and therefore the extremal ratio $J/M^2$ must be modified positively.

On vacuum fluctuations in quantum gravity and interferometer arm fluctuations

We propose a simple model of spacetime vacuum fluctuations motivated by AdS/CFT, where the vacuum is described by a thermal density matrix, ρ=e−KTr(e−K) with K the modular Hamiltonian. In AdS/CFT, both the expectation value of K and its fluctuations 〈ΔK2〉 have been calculated; both obey an area law identical to the Bekenstein-Hawking area law of black hole mechanics: 〈K〉=〈ΔK2〉=A4GN, where A is the area of an (extremal) entangling surface. It has also been shown that ΔK gravitates in AdS, and hence generates metric fluctuations. These theoretical results are intriguing, but it is not known how to precisely extend such ideas about holographic quantum gravity to ordinary flat space. We take the approach of considering whether experimental signatures in metric fluctuations could determine properties of the vacuum of quantum gravity in flat space. In particular, we propose a theoretical model motived by the AdS/CFT calculations that reproduces the most important features of modular Hamiltonian fluctuations; the model consists of a high occupation number bosonic degree of freedom. We show that if this theory couples through ordinary gravitational couplings to the mirrors in an interferometer with strain sensitivity similar to what will be available for gravitational waves, vacuum fluctuations could be observable.