Black Hole Electromagnetic Duality

Abstract

After defining the concept of duality in the context of general $n$-form abelian gauge fields in 2$n$ dimensions, we show by explicit example the difference between apparent but unrealizable duality transformations, namely those in $D=4k+2$, and those, in $D=4k$, that can be implemented by explicit dynamical generators. We then consider duality transformations in Maxwell theory in the presence of gravitation, particularly electrically and magnetically charged black hole geometries. By comparing actions in which both the dynamical variables and the charge parameters are "rotated," we show their equality for equally charged electric and magnetic black holes, thus establishing their equivalence for semiclassical processes which depend on the value of the action itself.