Black hole in three-dimensional spacetime

Abstract

The standard Einstein-Maxwell equations in 2+1 spacetime dimensions, with a negative cosmological constant, admit a black hole solution. The 2+1 black hole—characterized by mass, angular momentum, and charge, defined by flux integrals at infinity—is quite similar to its 3+1 counterpart. Anti–de Sitter space appears as a negative energy state separated by a mass gap from the continuous black hole spectrum. Evaluation of the partition function yields that the entropy is equal to twice the perimeter length of the horizon.