Criticality of Lower Dimensional AdS$_d$ Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper explores the thermodynamic criticality of lower-dimensional charged AdS black holes, revealing they can exhibit van der Waals phase transitions with mean field critical exponents, contrary to previous assumptions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that lower-dimensional charged dilatonic AdS black holes can show rich phase transition behavior similar to higher dimensions, derived from consistent truncations of higher-dimensional solutions.

Findings

Lower-dimensional charged AdS black holes exhibit van der Waals phase transitions.

Critical exponents match mean field theory predictions.

Phase behavior differs from non-dilatonic black holes in similar dimensions.

Abstract

In lower dimensions, charged AdS black holes in an extended phase space, where the cosmological constant is interpreted as the thermodynamic pressure, are typically absent of liquid/gas phase transitions. We investigate the criticality of lower dimensional charged, dilatonic, asymptotically AdS (CDAdS$_d$) black holes generated from consistent truncations of RNAdS$_{d+2}$ black objects. We demonstrate that CDAdS$_{d}$ black holes in $d<4$ can exhibit rich van der Waals behavior and confirm that the associated critical exponents match those expected from mean field theory.