Generalized Hawking-Page Phase Transition

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the phase transition of black holes in thermal equilibrium using a statistical mechanical approach that incorporates quantum gravity effects, generalizing the Hawking-Page transition without relying on classical metrics.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum gravity-based analysis of black hole phase transitions, extending the Hawking-Page transition to a more general, metric-independent framework.

Findings

Heat capacity diverges at a critical mass value.

Reproduces the Hawking-Page phase transition.

Generalizes phase transition without classical metric dependence.

Abstract

The issue of radiant spherical black holes being in stable thermal equilibrium with their radiation bath is reconsidered. Using a simple equilibrium statistical mechanical analysis incorporating Gaussian thermal fluctuations in a canonical ensemble of isolated horizons, the heat capacity is shown to diverge at a critical value of the classical mass of the isolated horizon, given (in Planckian units) by the {\it microcanonical} entropy calculated using Loop Quantum Gravity. The analysis reproduces the Hawking-Page phase transition discerned for anti-de Sitter black holes and generalizes it in the sense that nowhere is any classical metric made use of.