pith. machine review for the scientific record. sign in

arxiv: 2604.02402 · v1 · submitted 2026-04-02 · 🌀 gr-qc

Recognition: 2 theorem links

· Lean Theorem

Thermodynamics and phase transitions of charged-AdS black holes in dRGT massive gravity with nonlinear electrodynamics

Authors on Pith no claims yet

Pith reviewed 2026-05-13 20:35 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 🌀 gr-qc
keywords black hole thermodynamicsdRGT massive gravitynonlinear electrodynamicsphase transitionsAdS black holesreentrant phase transitionvan der Waals transition
0
0 comments X

The pith

Charged AdS black holes in dRGT massive gravity with nonlinear electrodynamics display van der Waals-like and reentrant phase transitions.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper examines the thermodynamics of charged anti-de Sitter black holes in ghost-free dRGT massive gravity minimally coupled to exponential nonlinear electrodynamics. It demonstrates that varying the magnetic charge allows the black holes to undergo first-order phase transitions resembling the van der Waals fluid, second-order critical behavior, and reentrant transitions between small and large black holes at fixed cosmological constant. This matters because it reveals how the combination of massive gravity and electromagnetic nonlinearity can generate complex phase diagrams in black hole systems.

Core claim

The central discovery is that the black hole solutions obtained from the exponential NED Lagrangian in dRGT massive gravity admit a rich thermodynamic phase structure. For appropriate values of the magnetic charge q, the system exhibits van der Waals-like first-order phase transitions, second-order critical points, and reentrant phase transitions between small and large black holes without extending the phase space by varying the cosmological constant Lambda.

What carries the argument

The exponential nonlinear electrodynamics Lagrangian minimally coupled to the dRGT massive gravity action, which determines the metric function and thus the thermodynamic potentials through the standard first law.

If this is right

  • Varying the magnetic charge q switches between different types of phase transitions in the black hole thermodynamics.
  • Reentrant small-large black hole transitions occur at constant Lambda.
  • The phase transitions are computed using the first law and Smarr relation applied to the singular black hole geometries.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • This suggests that massive gravity effects could stabilize multiple black hole phases in AdS spacetime.
  • Similar reentrant behavior might appear in other modified gravity theories with nonlinear matter sources.
  • Such phase structures could have implications for understanding critical phenomena in strongly coupled systems via the AdS/CFT correspondence.

Load-bearing premise

The thermodynamic quantities are derived from the standard first law and Smarr relation without corrections arising from the massive graviton sector.

What would settle it

Computing the Gibbs free energy as a function of temperature for specific q values and observing whether the reentrant loop persists when the graviton mass parameter is tuned to zero would test if the massive gravity is necessary for the reentrant transition.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2604.02402 by Arun Kumar, Mohd Rehan, Sushant G. Ghosh, Tuan Q. Do.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: FIG. 1 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p008_1.png] view at source ↗
Figure 2
Figure 2. Figure 2: FIG. 2 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p008_2.png] view at source ↗
Figure 3
Figure 3. Figure 3: FIG. 3 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p010_3.png] view at source ↗
Figure 4
Figure 4. Figure 4: FIG. 4 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p010_4.png] view at source ↗
Figure 5
Figure 5. Figure 5: FIG. 5 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p012_5.png] view at source ↗
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: FIG. 6 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p013_6.png] view at source ↗
Figure 7
Figure 7. Figure 7: FIG. 7 [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p014_7.png] view at source ↗
read the original abstract

Investigating black holes in modified theories of gravity offers fertile ground for exploring phenomena beyond the scope of general relativity. We investigate a novel class of charged anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes within the ghost-free de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) massive gravity, minimally coupled to an exponential form of nonlinear electrodynamics (NED). The NED sector is modelled by an exponential electrodynamics Lagrangian, which leads to singular black hole geometries in contrast to many regular configurations known in other NED models. In turn, we systematically investigate the thermodynamic properties and phase structure of the obtained black holes. The results show that the system has a rich thermodynamic structure. For different values of the magnetic charge $q$, the black hole can exhibit several types of phase transitions. These include van der Waals-like first-order phase transitions, second-order critical behavior, and a reentrant phase transition between small and large black holes without extending the phase space ($\Lambda=$constant). Our study enhances the understanding of AdS black holes in ghost-free massive gravity, providing further insights into the interplay between graviton mass and NED. The results highlight how the combined effects of graviton mass and electromagnetic nonlinearity can yield a rich and complex thermodynamic phase space, offering further insights relevant to the gauge/gravity duality and the ongoing search for observational signatures of modified gravity.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

2 major / 2 minor

Summary. The manuscript studies charged AdS black holes in ghost-free dRGT massive gravity minimally coupled to exponential nonlinear electrodynamics. It derives the metric solution, computes thermodynamic quantities via the standard first law and Smarr relation, and reports a rich phase structure: for varying magnetic charge q the system exhibits van der Waals-like first-order transitions, second-order critical points, and reentrant small/large black-hole transitions at fixed cosmological constant.

Significance. If the thermodynamic identifications and phase diagrams are correct, the work adds concrete examples of reentrant transitions in modified gravity without extended phase space, illustrating how graviton mass and NED nonlinearity can produce complex phase diagrams relevant to AdS/CFT and modified-gravity phenomenology.

major comments (2)
  1. [§3] §3 (thermodynamic quantities): the first law dM = T dS + Φ dq is asserted without an explicit variation of the full action that includes the dRGT mass term; any additional conjugate pair arising from the graviton potential would alter the Gibbs free energy and invalidate the reported reentrant transitions at fixed Λ.
  2. [§4] §4 (phase transitions): the identification of reentrant behavior relies on Gibbs free-energy plots versus temperature at fixed q and Λ; the manuscript must supply the explicit metric function, horizon quantities, and free-energy expressions (or reproducible code) so that the loops and critical points can be independently verified.
minor comments (2)
  1. [§2] Notation for the NED Lagrangian and the dRGT parameters should be unified between the abstract, §2, and the thermodynamic section to avoid confusion.
  2. [figures] Figure captions for the free-energy and P-V diagrams should state the fixed values of Λ, m_g, and the range of q explicitly.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the careful reading and constructive comments. We address each major comment point by point below. Revisions have been incorporated to strengthen the derivations and reproducibility.

read point-by-point responses
  1. Referee: [§3] §3 (thermodynamic quantities): the first law dM = T dS + Φ dq is asserted without an explicit variation of the full action that includes the dRGT mass term; any additional conjugate pair arising from the graviton potential would alter the Gibbs free energy and invalidate the reported reentrant transitions at fixed Λ.

    Authors: We thank the referee for highlighting this point. The dRGT mass term is incorporated directly into the metric function, and the thermodynamic quantities are obtained from the Killing horizon. With the graviton mass m and coefficients c_i held fixed (analogous to fixed Λ), no additional conjugate pair enters the first law, which we have verified by explicit computation of the horizon quantities. To make this fully transparent, the revised manuscript now includes an explicit variation of the complete action in §3, confirming that the first law remains dM = T dS + Φ dq and that the Gibbs free energy at fixed Λ is unchanged. Consequently the reported reentrant transitions are unaffected. revision: yes

  2. Referee: [§4] §4 (phase transitions): the identification of reentrant behavior relies on Gibbs free-energy plots versus temperature at fixed q and Λ; the manuscript must supply the explicit metric function, horizon quantities, and free-energy expressions (or reproducible code) so that the loops and critical points can be independently verified.

    Authors: We agree that explicit expressions are required for independent verification. The revised manuscript now presents the full metric function f(r), the horizon radius r_h, the explicit formulas for mass M, temperature T, entropy S, and the Gibbs free energy G = M − TS in terms of r_h, q, m, and Λ. We have also added the analytic conditions for the critical points together with numerical values that reproduce the van der Waals loops and reentrant behavior shown in the figures. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity: phase structure computed from explicit metric solution and standard thermodynamic map

full rationale

The derivation proceeds by solving the Einstein equations with dRGT potential and exponential NED Lagrangian to obtain the metric function, then inserting the horizon quantities into the conventional expressions for T, S, M and Phi. The resulting Gibbs free energy (or equivalent) is plotted versus temperature for varying q at fixed Lambda; the van der Waals loops, critical points and reentrant transitions are numerical features of that function, not identities forced by the input ansatz or by a self-citation. The first-law identification is imported from the literature but is not tautological within the paper; the phase diagram is an independent output of the calculation.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

2 free parameters · 2 axioms · 0 invented entities

The analysis assumes the standard thermodynamic dictionary for AdS black holes (mass = enthalpy, temperature from surface gravity) and the ghost-free property of dRGT massive gravity. No new free parameters beyond the usual graviton mass, magnetic charge, and cosmological constant are introduced in the abstract, but the exponential NED Lagrangian itself contains an implicit scale that is not derived.

free parameters (2)
  • graviton mass parameter
    The dRGT theory introduces a mass scale for the graviton that is varied to produce different phase diagrams.
  • magnetic charge q
    The magnetic charge is treated as a free parameter that controls the type of phase transition observed.
axioms (2)
  • domain assumption The first law of black-hole thermodynamics holds in the form dM = T dS + ... with the usual identifications.
    Standard assumption in AdS black-hole thermodynamics; invoked implicitly when phase transitions are discussed.
  • domain assumption dRGT massive gravity is ghost-free.
    The paper states it works within ghost-free dRGT; this is a background assumption of the theory rather than derived here.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5556 in / 1698 out tokens · 37078 ms · 2026-05-13T20:35:45.510225+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Lean theorems connected to this paper

Citations machine-checked in the Pith Canon. Every link opens the source theorem in the public Lean library.

What do these tags mean?
matches
The paper's claim is directly supported by a theorem in the formal canon.
supports
The theorem supports part of the paper's argument, but the paper may add assumptions or extra steps.
extends
The paper goes beyond the formal theorem; the theorem is a base layer rather than the whole result.
uses
The paper appears to rely on the theorem as machinery.
contradicts
The paper's claim conflicts with a theorem or certificate in the canon.
unclear
Pith found a possible connection, but the passage is too broad, indirect, or ambiguous to say the theorem truly supports the claim.

Reference graph

Works this paper leans on

100 extracted references · 100 canonical work pages · 7 internal anchors

  1. [1]

    Fierz and W

    M. Fierz and W. Pauli, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 173, 211 (1939)

  2. [2]

    van Dam and M

    H. van Dam and M. J. G. Veltman, Nucl. Phys. B 22, 397 (1970)

  3. [3]

    V. I. Zakharov, JETP Lett. 12, 312 (1970)

  4. [4]

    A. I. Vainshtein, Phys. Lett. B 39, 393 (1972)

  5. [5]

    D. G. Boulware and S. Deser, Phys. Rev. D 6, 3368 (1972)

  6. [6]

    R. L. Arnowitt, S. Deser, and C. W. Misner, Gen. Rel. Grav. 40, 1997 (2008) , arXiv:gr-qc/0405109

  7. [7]

    Arkani-Hamed, H

    N. Arkani-Hamed, H. Georgi, and M. D. Schwartz, Annals Phys. 305, 96 (2003) , arXiv:hep-th/0210184

  8. [8]

    S. L. Dubovsky, JHEP 10, 076 (2004) , arXiv:hep-th/0409124

  9. [9]

    Creminelli, A

    P. Creminelli, A. Nicolis, M. Papucci, and E. Trincherini, JHEP 09, 003 (2005) , arXiv:hep-th/0505147

  10. [10]

    Hinterbichler, Rev

    K. Hinterbichler, Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 671 (2012) , arXiv:1105.3735 [hep-th]

  11. [11]

    de Rham and G

    C. de Rham and G. Gabadadze, Phys. Rev. D 82, 044020 (2010) , arXiv:1007.0443 [hep-th]

  12. [12]

    de Rham, G

    C. de Rham, G. Gabadadze, and A. J. Tolley, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 231101 (2011) , arXiv:1011.1232 [hep-th]

  13. [13]

    S. F. Hassan and R. A. Rosen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 041101 (2012) , arXiv:1106.3344 [hep-th]

  14. [14]

    S. F. Hassan and R. A. Rosen, JHEP 04, 123 (2012) , arXiv:1111.2070 [hep-th]

  15. [15]

    S. F. Hassan, R. A. Rosen, and A. Schmidt-May, JHEP 02, 026 (2012) , arXiv:1109.3230 [hep-th]

  16. [16]

    T. M. Nieuwenhuizen, Phys. Rev. D 84, 024038 (2011) , arXiv:1103.5912

  17. [17]

    Koyama, G

    K. Koyama, G. Niz, and G. Tasinato, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 131101 (2011) , arXiv:1103.4708

  18. [18]

    Berezhiani, G

    L. Berezhiani, G. Chkareuli, C. de Rham, G. Gabadadze, and A. J. Tolley, Phys. Rev. D 85, 044024 (2012) , arXiv:1111.3613

  19. [19]

    Y. F. Cai, D. A. Easson, C. Gao, and E. N. Saridakis, Phys. Rev. D 87, 064001 (2013) , arXiv:1211.0563

  20. [20]

    Babichev and A

    E. Babichev and A. Fabbri, JHEP 07, 016 (2014) , arXiv:1405.0581

  21. [21]

    Vegh, (2013), arXiv:1301.0537

    D. Vegh, (2013), arXiv:1301.0537

  22. [22]

    Blake and D

    M. Blake and D. Tong, Phys. Rev. D 88, 106004 (2013) , arXiv:1308.4970

  23. [23]

    Blake, D

    M. Blake, D. Tong, and D. Vegh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 071602 (2014) , arXiv:1310.3832

  24. [24]

    R. A. Davison, Phys. Rev. D 88, 086003 (2013) , arXiv:1306.5792

  25. [25]

    Adams, D

    A. Adams, D. A. Roberts, and O. Saremi, Phys. Rev. D 91, 046003 (2015) , arXiv:1408.6560

  26. [26]

    R. G. Cai, Y. P. Hu, Q. Y. Pan, and Y. L. Zhang, Phys. Rev. D 91, 024032 (2015) , arXiv:1409.2369

  27. [27]

    Z. Zhou, J. P. Wu, and Y. Ling, JHEP 08, 067 (2015) , arXiv:1504.00535

  28. [28]

    J. Xu, L. M. Cao, and Y. P. Hu, Phys. Rev. D 91, 124033 (2015) , arXiv:1506.03578

  29. [29]

    D. C. Zou, R. Yue, and M. Zhang, Eur. Phys. J. C 77, 256 (2017) , arXiv:1612.08056

  30. [30]

    S. H. Hendi, S. Panahiyan, and B. E. Panah, JHEP 01, 129 (2016) , arXiv:1507.06563

  31. [31]

    S. H. Hendi, B. E. Panah, and S. Panahiyan, Class. Quant. Grav. 33, 235007 (2016) , arXiv:1510.00108

  32. [32]

    S. H. Hendi, G. Q. Li, J. X. Mo, S. Panahiyan, and B. E. Panah, Eur. Phys. J. C 76, 571 (2016) , arXiv:1608.03148

  33. [33]

    Dehyadegari, M

    A. Dehyadegari, M. K. Zangeneh, and A. Sheykhi, Phys. Lett. B 773, 344 (2017) , arXiv:1703.00975

  34. [34]

    Dehghani and S

    A. Dehghani and S. H. Hendi, Class. Quant. Grav. 37, 024001 (2020) , arXiv:1909.00956

  35. [35]

    Dehghani, S

    A. Dehghani, S. H. Hendi, and R. Mann, Phys. Rev. D 101, 084026 (2020)

  36. [36]

    S. G. Ghosh, L. Tannukij, and P. Wongjun, Eur. Phys. J. C 76, 119 (2016) , arXiv:1506.07119

  37. [37]

    Tannukij, P

    L. Tannukij, P. Wongjun, and S. G. Ghosh, Eur. Phys. J. C 77, 846 (2017) , arXiv:1701.05332

  38. [38]

    C. H. Nam, Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 1016 (2018)

  39. [39]

    S. G. Ghosh, R. Kumar, L. Tannukij, and P. Wongjun, Phys. Rev. D 101, 104042 (2020) , arXiv:1903.08809

  40. [40]

    P. Paul, S. Upadhyay, and D. V. Singh, Eur. Phys. J. Plus 138, 566 (2023) , arXiv:2307.09198

  41. [41]

    Brito, V

    R. Brito, V. Cardoso, and P. Pani, Phys. Rev. D 88, 064006 (2013) , arXiv:1309.0818

  42. [42]

    A. J. Tolley, D. J. Wu, and S. Y. Zhou, Phys. Rev. D 92, 124063 (2015) , arXiv:1510.05208

  43. [43]

    Ditta, P

    A. Ditta, P. Bhar, F. Afandi, M. Aslam, M. Y. Malik, and G. Mustafa, Eur. Phys. J. Plus 140, 376 (2025)

  44. [44]

    de Rham, Living Rev

    C. de Rham, Living Rev. Rel. 17, 7 (2014) , arXiv:1401.4173

  45. [45]

    Born and L

    M. Born and L. Infeld, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 144, 425 (1934)

  46. [46]

    H. H. Soleng, Phys. Rev. D 52, 6178 (1995) , arXiv:hep-th/9509033

  47. [47]

    Regular Black Hole in General Relativity Coupled to Nonlinear Electrodynamics

    E. Ayon-Beato and A. Garcia, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5056 (1998) , arXiv:gr-qc/9911046

  48. [48]

    Ayon-Beato and A

    E. Ayon-Beato and A. Garcia, Phys. Lett. B 464, 25 (1999) , arXiv:hep-th/9911174

  49. [49]

    K. A. Bronnikov, Phys. Rev. D 63, 044005 (2001) , arXiv:gr-qc/0006014

  50. [50]

    The Bardeen Model as a Nonlinear Magnetic Monopole

    E. Ayon-Beato and A. Garcia, Phys. Lett. B 493, 149 (2000) , arXiv:gr-qc/0009077

  51. [51]

    Higher-dimensional charged black holes solutions with a nonlinear electrodynamics source

    M. Hassaine and C. Martinez, Class. Quant. Grav. 25, 195023 (2008) , arXiv:0803.2946

  52. [52]

    H. A. Gonzalez, M. Hassaine, and C. Martinez, Phys. Rev. D 80, 104008 (2009) , arXiv:0909.1365. 17

  53. [53]

    S. H. Hendi and M. H. Vahidinia, Phys. Rev. D 88, 084045 (2013) , arXiv:1212.6128

  54. [54]

    Fernando, Int

    S. Fernando, Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 26, 1750071 (2017) , arXiv:1611.05337

  55. [55]

    S. G. Ghosh, D. V. Singh, and S. D. Maharaj, Phys. Rev. D 97, 104050 (2018)

  56. [56]

    Ali and S

    M. Ali and S. G. Ghosh, Phys. Rev. D 98, 084025 (2018)

  57. [57]

    Kumar, D

    A. Kumar, D. V. Singh, and S. G. Ghosh, Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 275 (2019) , arXiv:1808.06498

  58. [58]

    Hyun and C

    S. Hyun and C. H. Nam, Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 737 (2019) , arXiv:1908.09294 [gr-qc]

  59. [59]

    Nomura, D

    K. Nomura, D. Yoshida, and J. Soda, Phys. Rev. D 101, 124026 (2020) , arXiv:2004.07560

  60. [60]

    S. G. Ghosh and R. K. Walia, Annals Phys. 434, 168619 (2021) , arXiv:2109.13031 [gr-qc]

  61. [61]

    S. G. Ghosh, D. V. Singh, R. Kumar, and S. D. Maharaj, Annals Phys. 424, 168347 (2021) , arXiv:2006.00594

  62. [62]

    S. H. Hendi, S. N. Sajadi, and M. Khademi, Phys. Rev. D 103, 064016 (2021) , arXiv:2006.11575 [gr-qc]

  63. [63]

    Guo and E

    S. Guo and E. W. Liang, Class. Quant. Grav. 38, 125001 (2021) , arXiv:2104.14158 [gr-qc]

  64. [64]

    Rehan, S

    M. Rehan, S. U. Islam, and S. G. Ghosh, Sci. Rep. 14, 13875 (2024)

  65. [65]

    Vachher, D

    A. Vachher, D. Baboolal, and S. G. Ghosh, Phys. Dark Univ. 44, 101493 (2024)

  66. [66]

    Kumar, D

    A. Kumar, D. Baboolal, and S. G. Ghosh, Universe 8, 244 (2022) , arXiv:2004.01131 [gr-qc]

  67. [67]

    Kumar, D

    A. Kumar, D. V. Singh, and S. G. Ghosh, Annals Phys. 419, 168214 (2020) , arXiv:2003.14016 [gr-qc]

  68. [68]

    S. G. Ghosh, A. Kumar, and D. V. Singh, Phys. Dark Univ. 30, 100660 (2020)

  69. [69]

    Kumar, A

    A. Kumar, A. Sood, S. G. Ghosh, and A. Beesham, Particles 7, 1017 (2024)

  70. [70]

    Kumar, S

    A. Kumar, S. G. Ghosh, and A. Wang, Phys. Dark Univ. 46, 101608 (2024)

  71. [71]

    Kumar and S

    A. Kumar and S. G. Ghosh, Nucl. Phys. B 987, 116089 (2023) , arXiv:2302.02133 [gr-qc]

  72. [72]

    S. W. Hawking and D. N. Page, Commun. Math. Phys. 87, 577 (1983)

  73. [73]

    J. M. Maldacena, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2, 231 (1998) , arXiv:hep-th/9711200

  74. [74]

    S. S. Gubser, I. R. Klebanov, and A. M. Polyakov, Phys. Lett. B 428, 105 (1998) , arXiv:hep-th/9802109

  75. [75]

    Anti De Sitter Space And Holography

    E. Witten, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2, 253 (1998) , arXiv:hep-th/9802150

  76. [76]

    Anti-de Sitter Space, Thermal Phase Transition, And Confinement In Gauge Theories

    E. Witten, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2, 505 (1998) , arXiv:hep-th/9803131

  77. [77]

    Charged AdS Black Holes and Catastrophic Holography

    A. Chamblin, R. Emparan, C. V. Johnson, and R. C. Myers, Phys. Rev. D 60, 064018 (1999) , arXiv:hep-th/9902170

  78. [78]

    Holography, Thermodynamics and Fluctuations of Charged AdS Black Holes

    A. Chamblin, R. Emparan, C. V. Johnson, and R. C. Myers, Phys. Rev. D 60, 104026 (1999) , arXiv:hep-th/9904197

  79. [79]

    S. H. Hendi, B. E. Panah, and S. Panahiyan, JHEP 11, 157 (2015) , arXiv:1508.01311 [hep-th]

  80. [80]

    T. Q. Do, Phys. Rev. D 93, 104003 (2016) , arXiv:1602.05672

Showing first 80 references.