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Geometrothermodynamics of black holes
The thermodynamics of black holes is reformulated within the context of the
recently developed formalism of geometrothermodynamics. This reformulation is
shown to be invariant with respect to Legendre transformations, and to allow
several equivalent representations. Legendre invariance allows us to explain a
series of contradictory results known in the literature from the use of
Weinhold's and Ruppeiner's thermodynamic metrics for black holes. For the
Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole the geometry of the space of equilibrium states
is curved, showing a non trivial thermodynamic interaction, and the curvature
contains information about critical points and phase transitions. On the
contrary, for the Kerr black hole the geometry is flat and does not explain its
phase transition structure.Comment: Revised version, to be published in Gen.Rel.Grav.(Mashhoon's
Festschrift