New nonuniform black string solutions

We present nonuniform vacuum black strings in five and six spacetime dimensions. The conserved charges and the action of these solutions are computed by employing a quasilocal formalism. We find qualitative agreement of the physical properties of nonuniform black strings in five and six dimensions. Our results offer further evidence that the black hole and the black string branches merge at a topology changing transition. We generate black string solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory by using a Harrison transformation. We argue that the basic features of these solutions can be derived from those of the vacuum black string configurations.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures; v2: more details on numerical method, references added; v3: references added, minor revisions, version accepted by journa

Three-Charge Black Holes on a Circle

We study phases of five-dimensional three-charge black holes with a circle in their transverse space. In particular, when the black hole is localized on the circle we compute the corrections to the metric and corresponding thermodynamics in the limit of small mass. When taking the near-extremal limit, this gives the corrections to the constant entropy of the extremal three-charge black hole as a function of the energy above extremality. For the partial extremal limit with two charges sent to infinity and one finite we show that the first correction to the entropy is in agreement with the microscopic entropy by taking into account that the number of branes shift as a consequence of the interactions across the transverse circle. Beyond these analytical results, we also numerically obtain the entire phase of non- and near-extremal three- and two-charge black holes localized on a circle. More generally, we find in this paper a rich phase structure, including a new phase of three-charge black holes that are non-uniformly distributed on the circle. All these three-charge black hole phases are found via a map that relates them to the phases of five-dimensional neutral Kaluza-Klein black holes.Comment: 58 pages, 10 figures; v2: Corrected typos, version appearing in JHE

Sequences of Bubbles and Holes: New Phases of Kaluza-Klein Black Holes

We construct and analyze a large class of exact five- and six-dimensional regular and static solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations. These solutions describe sequences of Kaluza-Klein bubbles and black holes, placed alternately so that the black holes are held apart by the bubbles. Asymptotically the solutions are Minkowski-space times a circle, i.e. Kaluza-Klein space, so they are part of the (\mu,n) phase diagram introduced in hep-th/0309116. In particular, they occupy a hitherto unexplored region of the phase diagram, since their relative tension exceeds that of the uniform black string. The solutions contain bubbles and black holes of various topologies, including six-dimensional black holes with ring topology S^3 x S^1 and tuboid topology S^2 x S^1 x S^1. The bubbles support the S^1's of the horizons against gravitational collapse. We find two maps between solutions, one that relates five- and six-dimensional solutions, and another that relates solutions in the same dimension by interchanging bubbles and black holes. To illustrate the richness of the phase structure and the non-uniqueness in the (\mu,n) phase diagram, we consider in detail particular examples of the general class of solutions.Comment: 71 pages, 22 figures, v2: Typos fixed, comment added in sec. 5.

Uniqueness Theorem for Black Hole Space-Times with Multiple Disconnected Horizons

We show uniqueness of stationary and asymptotically flat black hole space-times with multiple disconnected horizons and with two rotational Killing vector fields in the context of five-dimensional minimal supergravity (Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons gravity). The novelty in this work is the introduction in the uniqueness theorem of intrinsic local charges measured near each horizon as well as the measurement of local fluxes besides the asymptotic charges that characterize a particular solution. A systematic method of defining the boundary conditions on the fields that specify a black hole space-time is given based on the study of its rod structure (domain structure). Also, an analysis of known solutions with disconnected horizons is carried out as an example of an application of this theorem.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures. v3: Further improvements on uniqueness theorem, Lemma introduced for clarity of derivation, new quantities introduced to treat special case with zero flux, refs. added, typos fixe

Formation of Five-Dimensional String Solutions from the Gravitational Collapse

We study the formation of five-dimensional string solutions including the Gregory-Laflamme (GL) black string, the Kaluza-Klein (KK) bubble, and the geometry with a naked singularity from the gravitational collapse. The interior solutions of five-dimensional Einstein equations describe collapsing non-isotropic matter clouds. It is shown that the matter cloud always forms the GL black string solution while the KK bubble solution cannot be formed. The numerical study seems to suggest that the collapsing matter forms the geometries with timelike naked curvature singularities, which should be taken cautiously as the general relativity is not reliable in the strong curvature regime.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, LaTeX, to appear in Class. Quant. Grav., a appendix and some discussions added, title change

On non-uniform smeared black branes

We investigate charged dilatonic black $p$-branes smeared on a transverse circle. The system can be reduced to neutral vacuum black branes, and we perform static perturbations for the reduced system to construct non-uniform solutions. At each order a single master equation is derived, and the Gregory-Laflamme critical wavelength is determined. Based on the non-uniform solutions, we discuss thermodynamic properties of this system and argue that in a microcanonical ensemble the non-uniform smeared branes are entropically disfavored even near the extremality, if the spacetime dimension is $D \le 13 +p$, which is the critical dimension for the vacuum case. However, the critical dimension is not universal. In a canonical ensemble the vacuum non-uniform black branes are thermodynamically favorable at $D > 12+p$, whereas the non-uniform smeared branes are favorable at $D > 14+p$ near the extremality.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures; v2: typos corrected, submitted to Class.Quant.Gra

Small Black Holes on Cylinders

We find the metric of small black holes on cylinders, i.e. neutral and static black holes with a small mass in d-dimensional Minkowski-space times a circle. The metric is found using an ansatz for black holes on cylinders proposed in hep-th/0204047. We use the new metric to compute corrections to the thermodynamics which is seen to deviate from that of the (d+1)-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole. Moreover, we compute the leading correction to the relative binding energy which is found to be non-zero. We discuss the consequences of these results for the general understanding of black holes and we connect the results to the phase structure of black holes and strings on cylinders.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figure. v2: typos corrected, introduction expanded, v3: presentation of sections 2 and 3 reordered and improved, explanatory remarks added, refs adde

New Phases of Near-Extremal Branes on a Circle

We study the phases of near-extremal branes on a circle, by which we mean near-extremal branes of string theory and M-theory with a circle in their transverse space. We find a map that takes any static and neutral Kaluza-Klein black hole, i.e. any static and neutral black hole on Minkowski-space times a circle M^d x S^1, and map it to a corresponding solution for a near-extremal brane on a circle. The map is derived using first a combined boost and U-duality transformation on the Kaluza-Klein black hole, transforming it to a solution for a non-extremal brane on a circle. The resulting solution for a near-extremal brane on a circle is then obtained by taking a certain near-extremal limit. As a consequence of the map, we can transform the neutral non-uniform black string branch into a new non-uniform phase of near-extremal branes on a circle. Furthermore, we use recently obtained analytical results on small black holes in Minkowski-space times a circle to get new information about the localized phase of near-extremal branes on a circle. This gives in turn predictions for the thermal behavior of the non-gravitational theories dual to these near-extremal branes. In particular, we give predictions for the thermodynamics of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories on a circle, and we find a new stable phase of (2,0) Little String Theory in the canonical ensemble for temperatures above its Hagedorn temperature.Comment: 72 pages, 5 figures. v2: Typos fixed, refs. added. v3: Sec. 3.2 fixe

Thermodynamics of Squashed Kaluza-Klein Black Holes and Black Strings -- A Comparison of Reference Backgrounds --

We investigate thermodynamics constructed on different background reference spacetimes for squashed Kaluza-Klein (SqKK) black hole and electrically charged black string in five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell system. Two spacetimes are possible to be reference spacetimes giving finite gravitational classical actions: one is four-dimensional Minkowski times a circle and the other is the KK monopole. The boundary of the SqKK black hole can not be matched perfectly to that of the former reference spacetime because of the difference in topology. However, the resultant classical action coincides with that calculated by the counterterm subtraction scheme. The boundary of the KK monopole has the same topology with that of the SqKK black hole and can be matched to the boundary of the black hole perfectly. The resultant action takes different value from the result given by using the former reference spacetime. After a brief review of thermodynamic quantities of the black hole solutions, we calculate thermodynamic potentials relevant for several thermodynamic environments. The most stable state is different for each environment: For example, the KK monopole is the most stable state in isothermal environment with fixed gravitational tension. On the other hand, when the size of the extra-dimension is fixed, the Minkowski times a circle is the most stable. It is shown that these two spacetimes can be reference spacetimes of the five-dimensional black string.Comment: 28 pages; references added, typo corrected;version accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra

New Horizons for Black Holes and Branes

We initiate a systematic scan of the landscape of black holes in any spacetime dimension using the recently proposed blackfold effective worldvolume theory. We focus primarily on asymptotically flat stationary vacuum solutions, where we uncover large classes of new black holes. These include helical black strings and black rings, black odd-spheres, for which the horizon is a product of a large and a small sphere, and non-uniform black cylinders. More exotic possibilities are also outlined. The blackfold description recovers correctly the ultraspinning Myers-Perry black holes as ellipsoidal even-ball configurations where the velocity field approaches the speed of light at the boundary of the ball. Helical black ring solutions provide the first instance of asymptotically flat black holes in more than four dimensions with a single spatial U(1) isometry. They also imply infinite rational non-uniqueness in ultraspinning regimes, where they maximize the entropy among all stationary single-horizon solutions. Moreover, static blackfolds are possible with the geometry of minimal surfaces. The absence of compact embedded minimal surfaces in Euclidean space is consistent with the uniqueness theorem of static black holes.Comment: 54 pages, 7 figures; v2 added references, added comments in the subsection discussing the physical properties of helical black rings; v3 added references, fixed minor typo