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Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162
www.elsevier.com/locate/nuclphysb

Thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship

conjecture in the Kerr-AdS black hole
Xiao-Xiong Zeng a,b , Hai-Qing Zhang c,∗
a State Key Laboratory of Mountain Bridge and Tunnel Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University,
Chongqing 400074, China
b Department of Mechanics, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, China
c Center for Gravitational Physics, Department of Space Science and International Research Institute of
Multidisciplinary Science, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Received 4 March 2020; received in revised form 20 August 2020; accepted 29 August 2020
Available online 10 September 2020
Editor: Clay Córdova

Abstract
We investigate the laws of thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the normal and
extended phase space of a Kerr-AdS black hole by analyzing the energy-momentum relation of the absorbed
fermion dropping into the horizon. In the normal phase space, the first law, second law as well as the weak
cosmic censorship conjecture are found to be valid in all the initial states of the black hole. However, in
the extended phase space, although the first law and weak cosmic censorship conjecture are still valid, the
second law becomes more subtle. We find that the validity or violation of the second law depends on the
spin parameter, the radius of the AdS spacetime, and their variations. In addition, in the extended phase
space, the configurations of the extremal and near-extremal Kerr-AdS black holes are unchanged as the
fermions are absorbed since the final and initial states are the same.
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3 .

1. Introduction

Due to the pioneering work of Hawking [1], we know that a black hole is not only a celestial
body, but also a thermodynamic system. Just like the ordinary thermodynamic systems, there
are also four laws for the black hole thermodynamic systems [2], which are valid near the hori-

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (X.-X. Zeng), [email protected] (H.-Q. Zhang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2020.115162
0550-3213/© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3 .
2 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

zon. The importance of thermodynamics of black holes is that it provides fundamental relations
between theories such as gravity, thermodynamics and quantum field theory.
Thermodynamics in the AdS space is more prevalent for the existence of a cosmological
parameter. Initially, the cosmological parameter in the thermodynamic system is treated as a
constant. However, more and more evidences have shown that this parameter may be considered
as a dynamical variable [3]. Moreover, Ref. [4] put forward to regarding it as a state function. In
particular, Refs. [5–7] proposed that the cosmological constant can be regarded as the pressure of
the thermodynamic system, while its thermodynamic conjugate variable can be defined naturally
as volume. The thermodynamic phase space thus is extended. In the extended phase space, the
Smarr relation derived by the scaling method is also valid besides the first law of thermodynam-
ics. The mass, of course, is not the internal energy but rather the enthalpy of the thermodynamic
system. The emergent property in the extended phase space is that the phase structures of black
holes are more abundant, and one can observe the van der Waals-like phase transition [8–13],
reentrant phase transitions [14–17].
Another reason for the importance of the thermodynamics in AdS space arises from the
AdS/CFT correspondence [18–21], which states that the gravity theory in d-dimensional AdS
spacetime is dual to the conformal field theory in (d − 1)-dimension. Various holographic appli-
cations have been proposed in the last two decades, for example, the holographic superconductors
[22–25], holographic thermalizations [26–29], holographic Fermi/non-Fermi liquids [30–32],
and so on.
For the general relativity, if singularities are naked, causality in the spacetimes may break
down, and physics will lose its predictive power. Penrose conjectured that the singularity will
not be naked for it is always covered by an event horizon [33], which is the so-called ‘weak
cosmic censorship conjecture’. Since there are no general ways to prove this conjecture, we thus
should investigate each type of black holes. Wald proposed firstly a gedanken experiment to
check this conjecture by throwing a particle into the Kerr-Newman black hole, and he found
that the weak cosmic censorship conjecture was valid for the extremal Kerr-Newman black holes
[34]. However, for the near-extremal Reissner-Nordström [35] black hole and near-extremal Kerr
black hole [36], this conjecture were found to be violated. Later it was pointed out that the
invalidity of the weak cosmic censorship conjecture in [35,36] was that the backreaction and self-
force effects are neglected [37]. So far, the weak cosmic censorship conjecture has been checked
in various black holes with and without the self-force effect by adding a particle [38–54].
As mentioned above, there are many works to investigate the thermodynamics of black holes
in the extended phase space, however all of them focus only on the first law of thermodynamics.
There is little work to discuss the second law of thermodynamics and the weak cosmic cen-
sorship conjecture in the extended phase space. Recently, Ref. [55] suggested that the first law,
second law as well as the weak cosmic censorship conjecture can be investigated in the extended
phase space under charged particles absorption. Their results showed that though the first law
and the weak cosmic censorship conjecture were valid, the second law was violated for the near-
extremal Reissner-Nordström-AdS black holes. Subsequently, the idea in [55] was extended to
Born-Infeld-anti-de Sitter black hole [56], torus-like black hole [57] and charged fermions ab-
sorption [58–60]. In this paper, we are going to investigate the laws of thermodynamics and weak
cosmic censorship conjecture in the Kerr-AdS black hole. Different from previous investigations,
the topology of this black hole is axisymmetric. In fact, Refs. [61,62] have investigated the laws
of thermodynamics of this black hole in the normal phase space. In order to get the first law
as well as the second law, a reference energy of the particle in the asymptotic region was im-
posed. In this paper, we will explore whether the first law and second law may be obtained by the
 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162 3

energy-momentum relation of the particles without any imposition. In addition, the laws of ther-
modynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture of the rotating black holes in the extended
phase space are also explored.
This paper is arranged as follows. In section 2, we briefly review the thermodynamics of the
Kerr-AdS black hole, and then study the dynamics of the spinning fermions in this black hole.
In section 3, we investigate the first law, the second law as well as the weak cosmic censorship
conjecture in the normal phase space. The law of thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship
conjecture in the extended phase space are studied in section 4. Section 5 is devoted to our
conclusions. Throughout this paper, we set the gravitational constant G and the light velocity c
to be one.

2. Energy and momentum of the spinning fermions

2.1. Brief review of the Kerr-AdS black holes

Line element of the Kerr-AdS black hole in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates can be written as
[63]
 2  2
 a sin2 θ ρ 2 2 ρ 2 2 θ sin2 θ r 2 + a2
ds = − 2 dt −
2
dϕ + dr + dθ + adt − dϕ ,
ρ   θ ρ2 
(1)
with the metric functions given by
 = (r 2 + a 2 )(1 + r 2 / l 2 ) − 2mr, ρ 2 = r 2 + a 2 cos2 θ, (2)
a2
 = 1 − 2 , θ = 1 − a 2 / l 2 cos2 θ, (3)
l
in which, m, a and l are the black hole mass parameter, spin parameter and the AdS radius
respectively. Cosmological constant  is related to the AdS radius as  = −3/ l 2 .
Matter near the event horizon will be dragged inevitably by the gravitational field with an
azimuthal angular velocity defined by
 
a θ (r 2 + a 2 ) − 
¯
= . (4)
θ (r 2 + a 2 )2 − a 2 sin2 θ
The angular velocities at the event horizon and infinity can be readily obtained from Eq. (4) as

¯h= a ¯∞=−a ,
 ,  (5)
rh2 +a 2 l2
where rh is position of the event horizon. It should be noted that the angular velocity at infinity
does not vanish, which is distinct from that in the asymptotic flat case. Thus, the net angular
velocity that contributes to the thermodynamics is given by [4]

¯h−
¯∞= a a
h =  + 2. (6)
rh2 +a 2 l
Hawking temperature and Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the Kerr-AdS black holes are
 
rh a2 rh2 a 2 π(rh2 + a 2 )
Th = 1+ 2 +3 2 − 2 , S = . (7)
4π(rh + a 2 )
2 l l rh 
4 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

The black hole mass M and angular momentum J can be expressed by the mass parameter
m and spin parameter a as M = m2 , J = am
2
, respectively. Therefore, we get the first law of
thermodynamics

dM = Th dS + h dJ. (8)
In Eq. (8), the cosmological parameter is treated as a constant, and the resulting phase space of the
thermodynamics is called ‘normal phase space’. Recent studies have shown that the normal phase
space can be extended by treating the cosmological parameter as an extensive variable, leading
to an ‘extended phase space’ [5–7]. Thus, the first law of thermodynamics in the extended phase
space can be written as [64,65]

dM = Th dS + h dJ + V dP , (9)
in which P and V are respectively the pressure and volume of the system, defined by
  
3 2π a 2 + rh2 a 2 l 2 − a 2 rh2 + 2l 2 rh2
P= , V= . (10)
8πl 2 3l 2 2 rh
Based on the first law in the extended phase space, the phase structures of the Kerr-AdS black
holes have been investigated extensively. It was shown that in the P − V plane, there were phase
transitions between the small black holes and large black holes [64,65], which is similar to the
van der Waals phase transition.

2.2. Motion of the spinning fermions in the Kerr-AdS black holes

When particles are absorbed by spherical symmetric black holes, it has been confirmed that
they satisfy the first law of thermodynamics as the energy-momentum relations of particles are
employed. We will adopt the similar strategy to investigate the laws of thermodynamics of Kerr-
AdS black holes, when the absorbed particles are spinning fermions. The Dirac equation now is
  αβ 
iγ μ ∂μ + μ ψ − uh̄ ψ = 0, in which u is the rest mass of the fermion, while μ = 2i μ αβ ,


αβ = 4 γ , γ , and Dirac matrices γ satisfy {γ , γ } = 2g .

i α β μ μ ν μν

In order to investigate the motion of the fermions in the rotating black holes, one should carry
out the dragging coordinate transformation with the definition dφ = dϕ − dt. ¯ In this case, the
metric in Eq. (1) becomes
1
ds 2 = −F (r)dt 2 + dr 2 + H (r)dθ 2 + K(r)dφ 2 , (11)
G(r)
in which
θ ρ 2 
F (r) = , G(r) = , (12)
θ (r 2 + a 2 )2 − a 2 sin2 θ ρ2
ρ2 sin2 θ  
H (r) = , K(r) = 2 2 (r 2 + a 2 )2 θ − a 2 sin2 θ . (13)
θ ρ 
From Eq. (11), we know that the event horizon and infinite red-shift surface coincide. This coinci-
dence is important to investigate the tunneling radiation of the particles, for in this case Landau’s
condition of the coordinate clock synchronization is satisfied.
 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162 5

To solve the Dirac equation in Eq. (11), we choose γ μ matrices as [66]

   
1 i 0 √ 0 σ3
γt = √ , γr = G ,
F 0 −i  σ3 0
  (14)
1 0 σ1 1 0 σ2
γ =√
θ
1 −1 , γ = √
φ
2 ,
H σ K σ 0
in which σ i are the Pauli matrices. For a fermion with spin 1/2, the wave function have spin up
and down state. In this paper, we are interested in the spin up state since the spin down case is
similar. The wave function for the spin up state is supposed to be
⎛ ⎞
C (t, r, θ, φ)  
⎜ 0 ⎟ i
ψ =⎝ ⎜ ⎟ exp I (t, r, θ, φ) . (15)
D (t, r, θ, φ) ⎠ h̄
0
Inserting Eq. (15) and Eq. (14) into the Dirac equation, and applying the WKB approximation,
we are led to
   
iC √ iD √
− √ ∂t I + D G∂r I + uC = 0, √ ∂t I − C G∂r I + uD = 0, (16)
F F
   
1 i 1 i
−D √ ∂θ I + √ ∂φ I = 0, − C √ ∂θ I + √ ∂φ I = 0, (17)
H K H K
in which we only take the leading order of h̄. In order to solve these equations, one should
separate the quantity I . According to the symmetries of the spacetime, the quantity I in the
dragging coordinate system can be rewritten as [66]
I = −(ω − j h )t + I (r) + Lφ + (θ ), (18)
where ω and j are respectively fermion’s energy and angular momentum measured by the ob-
server at the infinity. Substituting Eq. (18) into Eqs. (16) and (17), we obtain
   
i √ √ i
C u + √ (ω − j h ) − D G∂r I = 0, − C G∂r I + D u − √ (ω − j h ) = 0.
F F
(19)
Eqs. (19) have non-trivial solutions for C and D only if the determinant of the coefficient matrix
vanishes. From this condition, we can get ∂r I , and further the radial momentum p r = g rr ∂r I ,
 
G
p =±
r
(ω − j h )2 + μ2 F . (20)
F
The laws of thermodynamics should be studied near horizon region. Thus, Eq. (20) is simplified
as
ρh2
ω= |phr | + j h , (21)
a 2 + rh2
in which the lower index h represents near horizon region, with ρh2 = a 2 cos2 θ + rh2 . From
Eq. (21), we know that when ω < j h , the supperradiation occurs and the energy of the black
hole flows out of the horizon, since the sign in front of |phr | is negative. In this paper, we assume
that the supperradiation does not occur, which implies ω > j h and the sign in front of |phr | is
positive.
6 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

3. Thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the normal phase space

We will employ the energy-momentum relation derived in Eq. (21) to study the first, the
second laws of thermodynamics and the weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the normal phase
space of Kerr-AdS black hole in this section.

3.1. Laws of thermodynamics in the normal phase space

We assume that the absorbed fermion has energy ω and angular momentum j . As it drops into
the black hole, the internal energy M and angular momentum J of the black hole would change
according to

ω = dM, j = dJ . (22)
Due to the first law of thermodynamics, Eq. (21) can be rewritten as
ρh2
dM = j h + phr . (23)
a 2 + rh2
In the normal phase space, the initial state of the black hole is represented by (m, a, rh), while
the final state is represented by (m + dm, a + da, rh + drh ). That is, the absorbed fermions will
change the configurations of the black holes. However, the horizon is always determined by the
function (r), i.e., (rh + drh ) = 0 always holds. Thus, the change of the horizon should satisfy
∂h ∂h ∂h
dh = dm + da + drh = 0. (24)
∂m ∂a ∂rh
In addition, by considering M = m
2
, Eq. (23) can be rewritten as
  
∂ m ∂ m a a ∂ am ∂ am ρh2
da + dm − + 2 da + dm − phr = 0.
∂a 2 ∂m 2 a + rh
2 2 l ∂a 2 ∂m 2 a 2 + rh2
(25)
After solving Eq. (25), we reach
     

al 2 m l 2 − 3rh2 da ρh2 a 6 phr + a 4 phr rh2 − 2l 2 + a 2 l 2 phr l 2 − 2rh2 + l 4 phr rh2

dm =   +    
.
l 2 rh2 l 2 − a 2 a 2 + rh2 l 2 rh2 l 2 − a 2
(26)
Inserting Eq. (26) into Eq. (24), we arrive at
   
al 2 da arh da 2phr a − l a + l a 2 + rh2 ρh2
drh = 2 + +   
. (27)
a rh − l 2 rh a 2 − l 2 a 2 + rh2 a 2 l 2 − r 2 a 2 + l 2 − 3rh4
Based on the above formula, one can readily obtain the variation of entropy by making use of
Eq. (7), which is
 
∂S ∂S 4πl 2 rh a 2 + rh2 ρh2 phr
dS = da + drh =   . (28)
∂a ∂rh (a 2 + rh2 )[rh2 a 2 + l 2 − a 2 l 2 + 3rh4 ]
With the help of Eqs. (7) and (28), we can get the following relation
 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162 7

ρh2
Th dS = phr . (29)
a 2 + rh2
Therefore, the internal energy in Eq. (23) can be rewritten as
dM = Th dS + h dJ, (30)
which is consistent with Eq. (8). Therefore, we see that as a spinning fermion drops into the
Kerr-AdS black hole, the first law of thermodynamics is valid in the normal phase space.
For the extremal black holes, the inner horizon and outer horizon coincide and the temperature
vanishes at the horizon. From Eq. (7), we can get the radius of the extremal black hole as
 √
−a 2 + a 4 + 14a 2 l 2 + l 4 − l 2
rextreme = √ . (31)
6
The second law of thermodynamics for the extremal black holes is meaningless for the temper-
ature vanishes. In fact, from Eq. (29), we know that the variation of the entropy is divergent in
this case. For the non-extremal black hole, the temperature is larger than zero for r > rextreme ,
thus dS in Eq. (28) is positive, implying that the second law of thermodynamics is also valid in
the normal phase space for the non-extremal Kerr-AdS black holes.

3.2. Weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the normal phase space

The validity of the weak cosmic censorship can be tested by computing the minimum value
of the function (r) after the absorption of fermions. For the Kerr-AdS black holes, we label the
radial position of the minimum of (r) as rl . At rl , the following relations always satisfy
(r)|r=rl ≡ l = λ ≤ 0, ∂r (r)|r=rl ≡ l = 0. (32)
For the extremal black holes, λ = 0, the horizon and the location of the minimum value are
coincident. For the near-extremal black holes, λ is a small quantity, the location of the minimum
value is located between the inner horizon and outer horizon. As a fermion with mass ω and
angular momentum j drops into the black hole, the mass and angular momentum of the black
hole will increase as M + ω, J + j respectively. Correspondingly, the location of the minimum
value and event horizon change into rl + drl and rh + drh , respectively. Thus, at rl + drl , we
have
 
∂l ∂l
(rl + drl ) = l + dl = λ + dm + da , (33)
∂m ∂a
where we have used Eq. (32). For the case of (rl + drl ) > 0, there is no horizon while for the
case of (rl + drl ) ≤ 0, there are always horizons. In the following we will focus on finding the
final form of Eq. (33). For simplicity, we consider the extremal black holes, since the horizon is
located at rl and l = 0. In this case, Eq. (26) can be adopted, thus we reach
   
−2ada l 2 rl a 2 − rl (3m + rl ) + a 2 rl3 + l 4 (m − rl )
dl =  
l 2 rl l 2 − a 2
 2  
2 a 2 − l 2 a 2 + rl2 (a 2 cos2 θ + rl2 )
−   . (34)
l 2 rl l 2 − a 2 (a 2 + rl2 )
In addition, from Eq. (2) the mass of the black hole can be written as
8 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

Fig. 1. The values of dl for the case of phr = 1, θ = 0. Curves from left to right correspond to l varying
from 0.1 to 1 with step 0.3.

 2  
a + rl2 l 2 + rl2
m= . (35)
2l 2 rl
Substituting Eqs. (35) and (31) into Eq. (34), we finally get
    √ 
3 (a − l)(a + l) a 6 cos θ − 1 + a + 14a l + l − l
2 2 2 4 2 2 4 2
dl =  √ . (36)
l 2 −a 2 + a 4 + 14a 2 l 2 + l 4 − l 2
Values of dl are shown in Fig. 1 for various l’s. It is obvious that for a given value of l, the
values of dl can be positive or negative. Take the example of l = 0.7, we see that for the case
of a < l, dl is negative; while for the case of a > l, dl is positive. For other values of l’s,
we can observe similar behaviors of dl . Therefore, we conclude that for the case of a < l,
the weak cosmic censorship conjecture is valid; while for the case of a > l, the weak cosmic
censorship conjecture is violated. Our results are consistent with those in Ref. [4], in which the
authors found that the Kerr-AdS solution was valid only for a < l since the singularity will be
naked for a ≥ l.1

4. Thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the extended phase space

4.1. Laws of thermodynamics in the extended phase space

In the extended phase space, the mass is no longer related to the internal energy but rather the
enthalpy of the thermodynamic system. The relation between the enthalpy M, internal energy U ,
pressure P and volume V are

M = U + PV. (37)

1 Please note that in higher dimensional Kerr-AdS solutions, a > L is also possible. Please refer to [67].
 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162 9

As the fermions are absorbed by the black holes, the energy and angular momentum are supposed
to be conserved. Thus, the energy and angular momentum of the spinning fermion equal to the
varied energy and angular momentum of the black hole, which leads to

ω = dU = d(M − P V ), j = dJ, (38)

where we have used Eq. (22). In this case, Eq. (21) changes correspondingly as
ρh2
d(M − P V ) = j h + phr . (39)
a 2 + rh2
Considering M = m
2
, Eq. (39) can be rewritten as
∂ m ∂ m ∂ m ∂P
2
da + 2
dl + 2
dm − V dl − P Y − phr X
∂a ∂l   ∂m  ∂l
 
a a ∂ am ∂ am ∂ am
− + da + dl + dm = 0, (40)
a 2 + rh2 l 2 ∂a 2 ∂l 2 ∂m 2
in which
∂V ∂V ∂V a 2 cos2 θ + rh2
Y ≡ dV = da + dl + drh , X = . (41)
∂a ∂l ∂rh a 2 + rh2
By solving Eq. (40), we obtain
U 1 + U2 + U3 + U 4
dm =   , (42)
8πl 4 rh3 l 2 − a 2
where
   
U1 = 8πal 4 mrh l 2 − 3rh2 da + l 3 rh3 −8πrh3 dl + 8πl 3 phr X + 3lY ,
    
U2 = a 6 4πl rh2 − l 2 dl + rh 8πl 2 phr X + 3Y ,
    
U3 = a 2 lrh 4πrh2 l 2 (8m − 5r) + rh3 dl + l l 2 − 2rh2 ,
  
U4 = a 4 rh rh2 − 2l 2 8πlrh dl + 8πl 2 phr X + 3Y .

In the extended phase space, the AdS radius is also a parameter of the black hole. Thus, the
initial state should be characterized by (m, a, rh , l). As a fermion drops into the black hole, the
final configuration of the black hole becomes (m + dm, a + da, rh + drh , l + dl). At the initial
state and final state, the horizons are determined by (rh ) = 0 and (rh + drh ) = 0 respectively,
which implies
∂h ∂h ∂h ∂h
dh = dm + da + drh + dl = 0. (43)
∂m ∂a ∂rh ∂l
Substituting Eq. (42) into Eq. (43), we can solve drh directly as
V1 + V2 + V3 + V4
drh =       , (44)
4πl 2 rh l − a 2 a 2 l 2 − rh2 − rh2 l 2 + 3rh2
2

where
10 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

   
V1 = 4πal 2 rh2 l 4 + 4l 2 rh2 + 3rh4 da − l 4 rh3 8πl 2 phr X + 3Y ,
    
V2 = a 6 4πl l 2 − rh2 dl − rh 8πl 2 Phr X + 3Y ,
    
V3 = 4πa 3 l 2 rh4 − l 4 da − a 2 lrh 4πrh3 l 2 + 3rh2 dl
  
+ l l 2 − 2rh2 8πl 2 phr X + 3Y ,
   
V4 = a 4 2l 2 rh − rh3 8πl 2 phr X + 3Y − 16πlrh4 dl . (45)
From Eq. (7), the variation of entropy can be written as
∂S ∂S ∂S
dS = da + dl + drh . (46)
∂a ∂l ∂rh
With the help of Eqs. (7), (10), (41), and (50), we find that,
ρh2
Th dS − P dV = phr . (47)
a 2 + rh2
Therefore, the internal energy in Eq. (39) can be rewritten as
d(M − P V ) = Th dS + h dJ − P dV . (48)
From Eq. (37), we can obtain the differential relation between the enthalpy and internal energy
as dM = dU + P dV + V dP . Therefore, we reach
dM = T dS + h dJ + V dP , (49)
which is consistent with Eq. (9). Therefore, we conclude that as a fermion drops into the Kerr-
AdS black hole, the first law of thermodynamics is also valid in the extended phase space.
In the normal phase space, we have known that both the first law and second law are valid as
a fermion drops into the Kerr-AdS black holes. However, this is not always true for all the cases.
The satisfaction of the first law of thermodynamics does not mean that the second law is also
satisfied, especially in the extended phase space [55]. We will check the second law of Kerr-AdS
black holes in the extended phase space in the following. By using the Eqs. (41) and (44), the
variation of entropy thus can be rewritten as
E
dS =  2   2    , (50)
a 2 − l 2 a 6 rh + l 2 + 2a 4 rh4 − a 2 2l 4 rh2 + 9l 2 rh4 + 3rh6 + 2l 4 rh4
in which
    3  
E = 2πl −a 10 rh2 + l 2 dl − 4a 2 lphr a 2 − l 2 cos2 (θ )rh3 + a 3 lrh4 rh2 + l 2 2 da
      
+ 4l 7 phr rh5 + 2πl a 6 −rh4 3 rh2 + l 2 dl + 4lphr rh
    
− a 4 rh5 l 2 rh dl + rh3 dl − 12l 3 phr + 2πl −3a 8 rh2 rh2 + l 2 dl
    
+ a 7 l rh2 + l 2 2 da + 2a 5 lrh2 rh2 + l 2 2 da − 12a 2 l 5 phr rh5 . (51)
From Eq. (50), we see that the variation of the entropy depends on a, l, da, dl while fixing rh .
Because we are interested in the second laws of black holes, thus a < l should be satisfied,
otherwise the singularity will be naked and the thermodynamic system will break down.
 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162 11

Fig. 2. Three dimensional visualizations of dS vs. da and rh for various fixed a’s. The horizontal gray plane is at dS ≡ 0.
We can readily see that dS > 0 and dS < 0 can all exist in different parameter regimes.

Since Eq. (50) consists of a bunch of parameters, for simplicity and without loss of generality,
we will impose phr = 1, θ = 0, dl = 0.01, l = 1 in this subsection in order to see the effects of
da, a and rh to the variation of the entropy. Of course one can also set other parameters, but the
general conclusions would not be changed. In Fig. 2 we show the 3-dimensional plots for the
12 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

dS in the coordinates of da and rh while fixing various a’s. We see that dS will be positive or
negative for different parameter regimes. For instance of a ≡ 0.7 and rh = 20 (the right panel of
top row of Fig. 2, there exists a critical value of da such that dS > 0 if da < 0.0067 and dS > 0
if da > 0.0067. In fact, the critical values of da and rh that will render dS = 0 can be easily
obtained from Eq. (50) as,

a 8 (rh2 + 1) + 2a 6 rh2 (rh2 + 200rh + 1) + a 4 rh3 (rh3 + rh − 1200) + 1200a 2 rh3 − 400rh3
da = .
100a 3 (rh2 + 1)2 (a 2 + rh2 )
(52)
As a is small, for example a ≡ 0.1 (left panel of bottom row of Fig. 2), dS > 0 if rh < 8 whatever
da is. This means the second law of thermodynamics will always be satisfied if the black hole is
near-extremal (with smaller rh ) independent of da. In the opposite limit, i.e., rh > 8, the second
law of thermodynamics will be violated. Therefore, in the extended phase space, the second law
of thermodynamics may be valid or violated, depending on the values of parameters a, da and rh
(given that we have fixed the values of phr , θ, dl and l), which is different from that in the normal
phase space.

4.2. Weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the extended phase space

Like the case in the normal phase space, we are going to discuss the minimal value of the
function (r), since a non-positive minimum value implies the existence of horizons while a
positive one does not. Different from that in the normal phase space, l now is a variable and the
initial state is represented by (m, a, l). As a fermion drops into the black hole, the final state will
change into (m + dm, a + da, l + dl). Correspondingly, there are also shifts for the locations of
the minimum value and event horizon, rl → rl + drl , rh → rh + drh . Thus, the shift for (r) is
 
2 a 2 + r 2 dl  2 
∂l ∂l ∂l 2rm m rm
dl = dm + da + dl = − + 2a 2 + 1 da − 2rm dm,
∂m ∂a ∂l l3 l
(53)
where we have used l = 0 in Eq. (32). For the extremal black holes, we have rh = rl so that
l = 0. In this case, Eq. (40) can be used. Substituting m in Eq. (35) and phr in Eq. (47) into
Eq. (53), we obtain
     
a 2 −2rm3 dl − l 3 dr + lr 2 dr
m m m a l 2 + rm 2 da 2 l 2 + 3r 2 dr − 2r 5 dl
lrm m m m
dm = + + .
2l 3 rm
2 l 2 rm 2l 3 rm
2

(54)
Inserting Eq. (54) into Eq. (53), we get
   2 
1 rm 3rm
dl = a 2
− 2 drm + rm − 2 − 1 drm . (55)
rm l l
For the extremal black holes, Eq. (31) is applicable. Thus, Eq. (55) can be simplified further
to be dl = 0. Thereofre, we see that there is no shift in l for the extremal black holes. The
configuration of extremal black holes does not change, thus the extremal black holes are still
extremal black holes as fermions are absorbed.
 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162 13

For the near-extremal black holes, Eq. (31) is not applicable at rm since it is valid only at rh .
However, we can expand it near rm . Replacing rh in Eq. (54) with rm +  and expanding it to the
first order of , we reach

dM = A + B + O()2 , (56)
in which
a 2 drm a 2 drm ada drm a 2 rm dl arm da rm
3 dl 3r 2 drm
A= 2
− 2
+ + − 3
+ 2
− 3 + m2 ,
2l 2rm rm 2 l l l 2l
a 2 dl a 2 drm ada ada 3rm 2 dl 3rm
B =− 3
+ 3
+ 2
− 2
− 3
+ 2 drm .
l rm l rm l l
Substituting Eq. (56) into Eq. (53), we obtain
   2 
1 rm 3rm
dl = a 2
− 2 drm + rm − 2 − 1 drm
rm l l
 2 3  2  
2 a rm dl − l drm + alrm l − rm
3 2 da + 3r 4 (r dl − ldr)
m m
+  + O()2 . (57)
l 3 rm
2

Since at the horizon (rh ) = 0, one can replace rh with rm +  and expand (rh ) to the order of
,
 2 
rm 3r 4
(rh ) = a 1 − 2 − 2m − rm
2 2
= 0, (58)
l l
where we have employed Eq. (35). Solving Eq. (58), we obtain

rm a 2 + 3rm2
l=  . (59)
a 2 − rm
2

Differentiating both sides of Eq. (59), we can further get

a 4 drm + 6a 2 rm
2 dr − 4ar 3 da − 3r 4 dr
m m m
dl =    m . (60)
a − rm
2 2 3/2 a + 3rm
2 2

Substituting Eqs. (59) and (60) into Eq. (57), we finally arrive at dl = O()2 . Since O()2 is
the higher order of the small quantity , thus it can be omitted. In this case, we see that the final
states of the near-extremal black holes are still the near-extremal black holes, which is similar
to that of the extremal black holes. Therefore, we can conclude that the weak cosmic censorship
conjecture still holds for both the extremal and near-extremal black holes in the extended phase
space.

5. Conclusions

We investigated the laws of thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture by con-
sidering a spinning fermion absorbed by the Kerr-AdS black hole. The dynamics of the fermion
was investigated by the Dirac equation in the dragging coordinate system. As a result, we ob-
tained the energy-momentum relation of the spinning fermion near the event horizon, which was
the basic of our investigation.
14 X.-X. Zeng, H.-Q. Zhang / Nuclear Physics B 959 (2020) 115162

In the normal phase space, we derived firstly the first law of thermodynamics by considering
the energy-momentum relation as well as the energy and angular momentum conservation. Then
we investigated the second law of thermodynamics by discussing the variation of the entropy.
As predicted, it was found that the variation of the entropy is always positive. The validity of
the weak cosmic censorship conjecture was also checked in the normal phase space by studying
the variation of the function (r) at the minimal point. For the case that the initial state was a
black hole, the final state was found to be a black hole as well, thus the weak cosmic censorship
conjecture was valid as well in the Kerr-AdS black hole.
Later, we investigated the laws of thermodynamics and weak cosmic censorship conjecture
in the extended phase space, which has not been reported previously as far as we know. In the
extended phase space, the cosmological parameter is not a constant any more, however, the pres-
sure of the thermodynamic system is considered as a constant. The first law thus contains the
contribution from pressure and volume. From the energy-momentum relation as well as the en-
ergy and angular momentum conservation, we also derived the first law successfully. The second
law, however, is more subtle since we found that it depends on the values of the spin parameter,
AdS radius as well as their variations. As the value of the AdS radius is fixed, we found that
the variation of entropy is different for different spin parameters. And for a fixed spin parameter,
the variation of the spin parameter also affects the variation of entropy, which can be positive
or negative. Therefore, the second law in the extended phase space may be valid or violated.2
We also checked the validity of the weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the extended phase
space by studying the variation of the function (r) at the minimal point. For the initial states
were extremal and near-extremal black holes, the final states were found to be extremal and near-
extremal black holes as well. The absorbed fermion thus would not change the location of the
minimum, thus the weak cosmic censorship conjecture is still valid in the extended phase space.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

The authors contributed equally to this work.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal rela-
tionships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No.
11675140, No. 11705005, and No. 11875095), and Basic Research Project of Science and Tech-
nology Committee of Chongqing (Grant No. cstc2018jcyjA2480).

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