The evolution of unstable black holes in anti-de Sitter space

Abstract

We examine the thermodynamic stability of large black holes in four-dimensional anti-de Sitter space, and we demonstrate numerically that black holes which lack local thermodynamic stability often also lack stability against small perturbations. This shows that no-hair theorems do not apply in anti-de Sitter space. A heuristic argument, based on thermodynamics only, suggests that if there are any violations of Cosmic Censorship in the evolution of unstable black holes in anti-de Sitter space, they are beyond the reach of a perturbative analysis.