English

Interior geometry of black holes as a probe of first-order phase transition

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2026-04-03 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

Traditional diagnostics of black hole phase transitions rely on thermodynamic quantities defined at the event horizon or asymptotic boundary. Here, we demonstrate that the near-singularity geometry offers a sharp, independent probe of both first-order phase transitions and supercritical crossover. For scalarized AdS black holes exhibiting a first-order phase transition, the Kasner exponent ptp_t, which characterizes the approach to the singularity, undergoes a dramatic transformation. On one side of the transition, ptp_t oscillates strongly with temperature, reflecting violent interior dynamics. On the other side, it becomes a smooth, monotonically varying function. These two distinct behaviors converge as the critical point is approached. Beyond the critical point, in the supercritical region, pt(T)p_t(T) develops a distinct extremum, defining a ''Kasner crossover line'' that is entirely independent of traditional thermodynamic (Widom line) or dynamic (Frenkel line) criteria. Our work establishes the black hole singularity as a novel class of diagnostics for phase transitions, revealing that a change in the macroscopic thermodynamic state fundamentally reshapes the deepest interior structure of spacetime.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.01818,
  title  = {Interior geometry of black holes as a probe of first-order phase transition},
  author = {Zi-Qiang Zhao and Zhang-Yu Nie and Shao-Wen Wei and Jing-Fei Zhang and Xin Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.01818},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures