Ruppeiner Geometry of Black Hole Thermodynamics

Abstract

The Hessian of the entropy function can be thought of as a metric tensor on state space. In the context of thermodynamical fluctuation theory Ruppeiner has argued that the Riemannian geometry of this metric gives insight into the underlying statistical mechanical system; the claim is supported by numerous examples. We study these geometries for some families of black holes and find that the Ruppeiner geometry is flat for Reissner--Nordstr\"om black holes in any dimension, while curvature singularities occur for the Kerr black holes. Kerr black holes have instead flat Weinhold curvature.