Contact geometry and thermodynamics of black holes in AdS spacetimes

In this paper we discuss a formulation of extended phase space thermodynamics of black holes in anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes from the contact geometry point of view. Thermodynamics of black holes can be understood within the framework of contact geometry as flows of vector fields generated by Hamiltonian functions on equilibrium submanifolds in the extended phase space that naturally incorporates the structure of a contact manifold. Deformations induced by the contact vector fields are used to construct various maps among thermodynamic quantities. Thermodynamic variables and equations of state of Schwarzschild black holes are mapped to that of Reissner-Nordstrom black holes in AdS, with charge as the deformation parameter. In addition, the equations of state of general black holes in AdS are shown to emerge from the high-temperature ideal gas limit equations via suitable deformations induced by contact vector fields. The Hamilton-Jacobi formalism analogous to mechanics is set up, and the corresponding characteristic curves of contact vector fields are explicitly obtained to model thermodynamic processes of black holes. Extension to thermodynamic cycles in this framework is also discussed.