Relativistic Spheres

By analyzing the Einstein's equations for the static sphere, we find that there exists a non-singular static configuration whose radius can approach its corresponding horizon size arbitrarily.Comment: 8 pages revtex, 1 ps figur

Extended phase space thermodynamics for third order Lovelock black holes in diverse dimensions

Treating the cosmological constant as thermodynamic pressure and its conjugate as thermodynamic volume, we investigate the critical behavior of the third order Lovelock black holes in diverse dimensions. For black hole horizons with different normalized sectional curvature $k=0,\pm1$, the corresponding critical behaviors differ drastically. For $k=0$, there is no critical point in the extended thermodynamic phase space. For $k=-1$, there is a single critical point in any dimension $d\geq 7$, and for $k=+1$, there is a single critical point in $7$ dimension and two critical points in $8,9,10,11$ dimensions. We studied the corresponding phase structures in all possible cases.Comment: pdflatex, 22 pages, 36 eps figures included. V2: minor corrections and new reference

Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant as a free thermodynamical variable and the associated criticality

The thermodynamic phase space of Gauss-Bonnet (GB) AdS black holes is extended, taking the inverse of the GB coupling constant as a new thermodynamic pressure $P_{\mathrm{GB}}$. We studied the critical behavior associated with $P_{\mathrm{GB}}$ in the extended thermodynamic phase space at fixed cosmological constant and electric charge. The result shows that when the black holes are neutral, the associated critical points can only exist in five dimensional GB-AdS black holes with spherical topology, and the corresponding critical exponents are identical to those for Van der Waals system. For charged GB-AdS black holes, it is shown that there can be only one critical point in five dimensions (for black holes with either spherical or hyperbolic topologies), which also requires the electric charge to be bounded within some appropriate range; while in $d>5$ dimensions, there can be up to two different critical points at the same electric charge, and the phase transition can occur only at temperatures which are not in between the two critical values.Comment: 23 pages. V2: modified all P_{GB}-r_+ plots using dimensionless variables, added comments on the relationship to Einstein limi

Age Problem in Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi Void Models

As is well known, one can explain the current cosmic acceleration by considering an inhomogeneous and/or anisotropic universe (which violates the cosmological principle), without invoking dark energy or modified gravity. The well-known one of this kind of models is the so-called Lema\^{\i}tre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) void model, in which the universe is spherically symmetric and radially inhomogeneous, and we are living in a locally underdense void centered nearby our location. In the present work, we test various LTB void models with some old high redshift objects (OHROs). Obviously, the universe cannot be younger than its constituents. We find that an unusually large $r_0$ (characterizing the size of the void) is required to accommodate these OHROs in LTB void models. There is a serious tension between this unusually large $r_0$ and the much smaller $r_0$ inferred from other observations (e.g. SNIa, CMB and so on). However, if we instead consider the lowest limit 1.7\,Gyr for the quasar APM 08279+5255 at redshift $z=3.91$, this tension could be greatly alleviated.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, revtex4; v2: discussions added, Phys. Lett. B in press; v3: published versio