Liquid bridges and black strings in higher dimensions

TL;DR

This paper explores the similarities between higher-dimensional fluid systems and black hole-black string systems, revealing phase transitions and critical dimensions that inform understanding of black hole stability and topology changes.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of a critical dimension for non-uniform bridges in higher-dimensional fluids and predicts phase transition sequences relevant to black hole-black string systems.

Findings

Existence of a critical dimension for non-uniform bridges

Phase structure with cusps in volume-area diagrams

Predicted first-order transition in black hole-black string systems

Abstract

Analyzing a capillary minimizing problem for a higher-dimensional extended fluid, we find that there exist startling similarities between the black hole-black string system (the Gregory-Laflamme instability) and the liquid drop-liquid bridge system (the Rayleigh-Plateau instability), which were first suggested by a perturbative approach. In the extended fluid system, we confirm the existence of the critical dimension above which the non-uniform bridge (NUB, i.e., {\it Delaunay unduloid}) serves as the global minimizer of surface area. We also find a variety of phase structures (one or two cusps in the volume-area phase diagram) near the critical dimension. Applying a catastrophe theory, we predict that in the 9 dimensional (9D) space and below, we have the first order transition from a uniform bridge (UB) to a spherical drop (SD), while in the 10D space and above, we expect the transition such that UB $\to$ NUB $\to$ SD. This gives an important indication for a transition in the black hole-black string system.