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arXiv · 2601.04379

Could black hole thermodynamics play a role in black hole mergers?

George Ruppeiner
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Abstract

Gravitational waves detected from binary black hole mergers by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaboration yield values for both the black hole remnant masses $M$ and spins $a$, with the $169$ spin values collected so far crowding significantly around their average $\bar{a}=0.6869\pm 0.0135$. Could this crowding relate directly to the Davies Point (DP) from black hole thermodynamics? The DP results from the Kerr-Newman black hole model, and has heat capacity diverging at $a=0.68125$, a value very close to the measured $\bar{a}$. In this paper I construct a consistent thermodynamic fluctuation theory for black holes and use it to write the thermodynamic curvature $R$. $R$ immediately yields the correlation length $\xi$. $\xi$ is found to diverge at the DP, and I propose that this divergence brings on critical slowing down that retards the emission of gravitational waves. The spin drifts of the remnants slow in proportion, leading to a piling up of spin value at the DP, as observed. If correct, my work would combine general relativity with black hole thermodynamics in an observational setting.

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George Ruppeiner. 2026-01-07. Could black hole thermodynamics play a role in black hole mergers?. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.04379

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