Black holes and fundamental physics

We give a review of classical, thermodynamic and quantum properties of black holes relevant to fundamental physics.Comment: Invited talk at the Fifth International Workshop on New Worlds in Astroparticle Physics, University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal, January 8-10, 2005, published in the Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on New Worlds in Astroparticle Physics, World Scientific (2006), eds. Ana M. Mour\~ao et al., p. 71-9

Thermodynamics of toroidal black holes

The thermodynamical properties of toroidal black holes in the grand canonical ensemble are investigated using York's formalism. The black hole is enclosed in a cavity with finite radius where the temperature and electrostatic potential are fixed. The boundary conditions allow one to compute the relevant thermodynamical quantities, e.g. thermal energy, entropy and specific heat. This black hole is thermodynamically stable and dominates the grand partition function. This means that there is no phase transition, as the one encountered for spherical black holes.Comment: 11 pages, 2 eps figures, revte

Stationary Black Holes in a Generalized Three-Dimensional Theory of Gravity

We consider a generalized three-dimensional theory of gravity which is specified by two fields, the graviton and the dilaton, and one parameter. This theory contains, as particular cases, three-dimensional General Relativity and three-dimensional String Theory. Stationary black hole solutions are generated from the static ones using a simple coordinate transformation. The stationary black holes solutions thus obtained are locally equivalent to the corresponding static ones, but globally distinct. The mass and angular momentum of the stationary black hole solutions are computed using an extension of the Regge and Teitelboim formalism. The causal structure of the black holes is described.Comment: 12 pages, Late