Extended Phase Space Thermodynamics for Black Holes in a Cavity

In this paper, we extend the phase space of black holes enclosed by a spherical cavity of radius $r_{B}$ to include $V\equiv4\pi r_{B}^{3}/3$ as a thermodynamic volume. The thermodynamic behavior of Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) black holes is then investigated in the extended phase space. In a canonical ensemble at constant pressure, we find that the aforementioned thermodynamic behavior is remarkably similar to that of the anti-de Sitter (AdS) counterparts with the cosmological constant being interpreted as a pressure. Specifically, a first-order Hawking-Page-like phase transition occurs for a Schwarzschild black hole in a cavity. The phase structure of a RN black hole in a cavity shows a strong resemblance to that of the van der Waals fluid. Our results may provide a new perspective for the extended thermodynamics of AdS black holes by analogy with black holes in a cavity.