On Black-Brane Instability In an Arbitrary Dimension

The black-hole black-string system is known to exhibit critical dimensions and therefore it is interesting to vary the spacetime dimension $D$, treating it as a parameter of the system. We derive the large $D$ asymptotics of the critical, i.e. marginally stable, string following an earlier numerical analysis. For a background with an arbitrary compactification manifold we give an expression for the critical mass of a corresponding black brane. This expression is completely explicit for ${\bf T}^n$, the $n$ dimensional torus of an arbitrary shape. An indication is given that by employing a higher dimensional torus, rather than a single compact dimension, the total critical dimension above which the nature of the black-brane black-hole phase transition changes from sudden to smooth could be as low as $D\leq 11$.Comment: 1+14 pages, 2 eps figures. Replaced with the published versio

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

The Black Di-Ring: An Inverse Scattering Construction

We use the inverse scattering method (ISM) to derive concentric non-supersymmetric black rings. The approach used here is fully five-dimensional, and has the modest advantage that it generalizes readily to the construction of more general axi-symmetric solutions.Comment: v3: 2 subsections added, typos fixed, more refs, journal version. v4: a transcription error in the ADM mass fixe

Instabilities of Black Strings and Branes

We review recent progress on the instabilities of black strings and branes both for pure Einstein gravity as well as supergravity theories which are relevant for string theory. We focus mainly on Gregory-Laflamme instabilities. In the first part of the review we provide a detailed discussion of the classical gravitational instability of the neutral uniform black string in higher dimensional gravity. The uniform black string is part of a larger phase diagram of Kaluza-Klein black holes which will be discussed thoroughly. This phase diagram exhibits many interesting features including new phases, non-uniqueness and horizon-topology changing transitions. In the second part, we turn to charged black branes in supergravity and show how the Gregory-Laflamme instability of the neutral black string implies via a boost/U-duality map similar instabilities for non- and near-extremal smeared branes in string theory. We also comment on instabilities of D-brane bound states. The connection between classical and thermodynamic stability, known as the correlated stability conjecture, is also reviewed and illustrated with examples. Finally, we examine the holographic implications of the Gregory-Laflamme instability for a number of non-gravitational theories including Yang-Mills theories and Little String Theory.Comment: 119 pages, 16 figures. Invited review for Classical and Quantum Gravit

Charged Rotating Kaluza-Klein Black Holes Generated by G2(2) Transformation

Applying the G_{2(2)} generating technique for minimal D=5 supergravity to the Rasheed black hole solution, we present a new rotating charged Kaluza-Klein black hole solution to the five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons equations. At infinity, our solution behaves as a four-dimensional flat spacetime with a compact extra dimension and hence describes a Kaluza-Klein black hole. In particlar, the extreme solution is non-supersymmetric, which is contrast to a static case. Our solution has the limits to the asymptotically flat charged rotating black hole solution and a new charged rotating black string solution.Comment: 24 page

Charged Black Holes in a Rotating Gross-Perry-Sorkin Monopole Background

We present a new class of stationary charged black hole solutions to five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons theories. We construct the solutions by utilizing so called the squashing transformation. At infinity, our solutions behave as a four-dimensional flat spacetime plus a `circle' and hence describe a Kaluza-Klein black hole. More precisely, our solutions can be viewed as a charged rotating black hole in a rotating Gross-Perry-Sorkin monopole background with the black hole rotation induced from the background rotation.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

G2 Dualities in D=5 Supergravity and Black Strings

Five dimensional minimal supergravity dimensionally reduced on two commuting Killing directions gives rise to a G2 coset model. The symmetry group of the coset model can be used to generate new solutions by applying group transformations on a seed solution. We show that on a general solution the generators belonging to the Cartan and nilpotent subalgebras of G2 act as scaling and gauge transformations, respectively. The remaining generators of G2 form a sl(2,R)+sl(2,R) subalgebra that can be used to generate non-trivial charges. We use these generators to generalize the five dimensional Kerr string in a number of ways. In particular, we construct the spinning electric and spinning magnetic black strings of five dimensional minimal supergravity. We analyze physical properties of these black strings and study their thermodynamics. We also explore their relation to black rings.Comment: typos corrected (26 pages + appendices, 2 figures