Ruppeiner Geometry of Black Hole Thermodynamics

Department of Physics, Stockholm University, Sweden

Corresponding author: ja@physto.se

Abstract


The Hessian of the entropy function can be thought of as a metric tensor on state space. In the context of thermodynamical fluctuation theory Ruppeiner has argued that the Riemannian geometry of this metric gives insight into the underlying statistical mechanical system; the claim is supported by numerous examples. We study these geometries for some families of black holes and find that the Ruppeiner geometry is flat for Reissner–Nordström black holes in any dimension, while curvature singularities occur for the Kerr black holes. Kerr black holes have instead flat Weinhold curvature.