The Fourth Law of Black Hole Thermodynamics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that black holes obey critical scaling laws similar to phase transitions, revealing deep connections between gravity, quantum mechanics, and statistical physics.

Contribution

It shows that black hole thermodynamics exhibits critical exponents satisfying universal scaling laws during phase transitions.

Findings

Black holes follow critical scaling laws during phase transitions.

Critical exponents match those predicted by universality hypothesis.

Implications for links between gravitation, quantum mechanics, and statistical physics.

Abstract

We show that black holes fulfill the scaling laws arising in critical transitions. In particular, we find that in the transition from negative to positive values the heat capacities $C_{JQ}$, $C_{\Omega Q}$ and $C_{J\Phi}$ give rise to critical exponents satisfying the scaling laws. The three transitions have the same critical exponents as predicted by the universality Hypothesis. We also briefly discuss the implications of this result with regards to the connections among gravitation, quantum mechanics and statistical physics.