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# H⁺₃ between the stars

## 1 Dark Clouds and the Role of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$

Half a century ago astronomers were just becoming aware that interstellar space contains considerable quantities of hydrogen, in both atomic and molecular form. Almost four decades ago Martin et al. (1961) pointed out to astronomers that, where interstellar $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ is ionized, $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is produced rapidly as a result of the reaction,

$$\mathrm{H}_2^++\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{H}_3^++\mathrm{H},$$
(1)
by which $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is created in abundance in laboratory hydrogen plasmas. Molecular hydrogen is the dominant hydrogenic species in dark clouds, where dust particles prevent the penetration of ultraviolet radiation. Solomon and Werner (1971) recognized that within dark clouds cosmic ray ionisation of $`\mathrm{H}_2`$,

$$\mathrm{H}_2+\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{r}.\mathrm{H}_2^++\mathrm{e}^{}+\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{r}.,$$
(2)
is the principal means of production of $`\mathrm{H}_2^+`$ and, through it, $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$. The flux of cosmic rays is such that an individual $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ molecule is ionised roughly once per billion years. In a cloud of density 10$`^4`$cm-3 each newly created $`\mathrm{H}_2^+`$ ion survives for about one day before undergoing reaction 1.1.

At about the same time discoveries by radio and millimetre wave spectroscopists of a variety of simple molecules (including free radicals) in dark clouds (e.g., Rank et al. 1971) were being reported. The discoveries clearly implied the existence of an active chemistry in these cold and rarified regions. The proposal by Klemperer (1970) that an unidentified intense line at a wavelength of 3.4 mm, originally referred to as ”X-ogen”, was emitted by HCO+ (later confirmed when the corresponding line of the 13C isotope of that molecular ion was detected by Snyder et al. 1976) suggested that gas phase ion-neutral reactions, which have no activation energy barriers, could be important in dark clouds.

In 1973 Watson and, independently, Herbst & Klemperer incorporated the forgoing ideas into detailed models for the gas-phase chemistry of dark clouds, proposing networks of ion-molecule reactions as the means of production for the simple molecules observed in dark clouds. Herbst & Klemperer approximately reproduced the observed abundances of some of these molecules. These two papers revealed for the first time the fundamental importance of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$. In their models as well as in those of a multitude of related papers that have followed, $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is the principal initiator of reaction chains via the generic reaction,

$$\mathrm{H}_3^++\mathrm{X}\mathrm{HX}^++\mathrm{H}_2,$$
(3)
where X is almost any constituent of the cloud (He, O2 and N are exceptions). The product ion $`\mathrm{HX}^+`$ then combines with other species through

$$\mathrm{HX}^++\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{XY}^++\mathrm{H},$$
(4)
and so on, creating networks of reactions, as first detailed by Watson and by Herbst & Klemperer. Later papers enlarged and refined the early models for dark clouds (e.g., Lee et al. 1996) and extended and adapted the basic ideas to diffuse clouds (van Dishoeck & Black 1986). Reactions 1.3 serve as sinks for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, severely reducing its steady-state abundance, because rate coefficients of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ with the most abundant species are large. Dissociative recombination on electrons (reaction 1.3 with X = e-) has a very large coefficient and is an important sink where electrons densities are sufficiently high.

## 2 Search strategies and early searches

Although compelling evidence for the importance of ion-molecule chemistry in the insterstellar medium has abounded since the 1970’s, the ultimate test of its significance would be the direct detection of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ and the determination of its abundance. To detect $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ requires spectroscopic measurements, but in which band and at what wavelength? $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ has no well-bound excited electronic states, and hence no ultraviolet or visible line spectrum. Likewise, its lack of a permanent dipole moment prohibits a pure rotational spectrum, which would occur at far infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths. The symmetric $`\nu _1`$ vibration does not induce a dipole moment and thus has no associated vibration-rotation transitions. However, the asymmetric $`\nu _2`$ vibration does induce a dipole moment. Following the laboratory measurements of the fundamental vibration-rotation band by Oka (1980), the $`\nu _2`$ band could be used to search for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$. In view of the expected weakness of the $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ lines it is fortuitous that the $`\nu _2`$ fundamental near 4 $`\mu `$m and first overtone near 2 $`\mu `$m (which is used for studies of planetary ionospheres) do not coincide closely with bands of astrophysically abundant molecules and, in addition, occur at infrared wavelengths which are for the most part accessible to ground-based telescopes.

Quiescent dark clouds are the most obvious sites to search for interstellar $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$. Since these clouds are usually very cold (typically 10–50 K), only the lowest rotational levels of the ground vibrational state of the molecule are populated and one is required to search for the vibration-rotation lines associated with those levels, in absorption against the continua of stars or protostars either embedded in the clouds or situated behind them (figure 1). Six lines are potential targets; four from the lowest (J=1, K=1) level of para-$`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ and two from the lowest (J=1, K=0) level of ortho-$`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, which is 32.9 K higher (figure 2). Note that the J=0, K=0 level is forbidden by the Pauli exclusion principle. In a dark cloud the ortho/para ratio is thermalised by proton hops and transfers of hydrogen atoms between $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ and its most frequent collision partner, $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ (reaction 1.3 with X=$`\mathrm{H}_2`$). The ground (para) state is more highly populated than the lowest ortho state at temperatures less than T $``$ 50 K. At 50 K molecules in the next lowest level (2,2) constitute less than five percent of the total.

Even with essentially all of the $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in the two lowest energy levels, the narrow absorption lines from those levels are expected to be very weak because of the miniscule steady state abundance of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$. Thus, detection of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ requires the use of sensitive high resolution infrared spectrometers, large telescopes, bright, yet highly obscured astronomical sources of infrared continuum, and careful attention to both wavelength calibration and the removal of atmospheric and instrumental spectral features.

The possibility of detecting interstellar $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ lines in emission also should be considered. Detection of weak emission lines often is more straightforward than detection of absorption lines, because a source of background continuum radiation is not required and emission from a much larger solid angle of cloud or nebula can be observed. However, in order to detect line emission one must find environments for which not only does $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ exist, but also a significant fraction of it is vibrationally excited. Within some clouds shock-excitation results from the interaction of high velocity winds, from embedded protostars or from supernovae ejecta, with the ambient gas. In the interaction zone collisional vibrational excitation of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ and subsequent line emission should occur, as they do in the case of $`\mathrm{H}_2`$. Conditions in planetary nebulae which are ejecting extensive circumstellar molecular envelopes also can result in significant vibrational excitation of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$. However, in both of these environments the columns of hot $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ are very short compared to the dimensions of the cloud or nebula, making detection difficult.

In the 1980’s and the first half of the 1990’s several attempts were made to detect $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in a variety of interstellar environments. All of these failed. During this period, however, the resolutions and sensitivities of infrared spectrometers improved, largely due to the advent of 2-dimensional arrays of infrared detectors. Telescope pointing and tracking accuracies and image sharpness also were considerably enhanced. Each of these improvements, along with with the experience gained from the early searches, contributed to the eventual detection of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$.

## 3 Detection in dark clouds

The first detections of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in interstellar space (Geballe & Oka 1996) were made toward the bright infrared sources W33A and GL2136. These objects are high mass protostars still located deep inside their natal clouds which were the targets of the search. The initial detections, obtained on 29 April 1996 at the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) on Mauna Kea, were decisively confirmed on July 15 of that year. Both nights’ observations utilised UKIRT’s superb infrared spectrometer CGS4 (Mountain et al. 1990), which can obtain high resolution spectra in narrow wavelength intervals, and focussed on the closely spaced pair of ortho and para lines near 3.67 $`\mu `$m. The detected lines are only 1-2 percent deep, much weaker than nearby atmospheric absorption lines of methane, and can barely be discerned in the unratioed spectra (figure 3). Observing from high and dry Mauna Kea was one key to the successful detection of this line pair, as at lower altitude sites the telluric methane lines are stronger and blend with nearby lines of water vapor to make the crucial wavelengths nearly opaque. A second key was to repeat the observations at a later date, using the change in the earth’s orbital velocity to change the Doppler-shift of the astronomical lines relative to the telluric lines (figure 4). The correct wavelength shift between April and July was observed, a convincing demonstration of the reality of the detection.

The measurement of lines of both ortho and para $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in a cold dark cloud allows the cloud temperature and the $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ column density, N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$), to be determined directly. For the clouds in which W33A and GL 2136 are situated mean temperatures of approximately 35 K and $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ column densities of 6 $`\times `$ 1014 cm-2 and 4 $`\times `$ 1014 cm-2, respectively, were found (Geballe & Oka 1996). Molecular hydrogen, the dominant constituent of dark clouds, has not yet been detected toward W33A and GL2136. However, assuming the standard dust-to-gas ratio found in the interstellar medium, estimates of the N($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) can be obtained from the depth of the 9.7 $`\mu `$m silicate dust absorption observed toward these objects. These estimates yield values for N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$)/N($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) of 2 $`\times `$ 10-9 in each of these clouds. This compares to values of $``$10-4 for the most abundant non-hydrogenic molecule, CO, in dark clouds. $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ indeed is a remarkably rare constituent of these dark clouds.

The detections in W33A and GL2136 have prompted searches for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in many additional dark clouds, with detections reported in several of them (McCall et al. 1999; Kulesa et al. 1999). In all but one case, the line strengths and derived column densities are comparable to those found toward W33A and GL2136. With larger telescopes and improved spectrometers now coming into use it is likely that the number of detections will increase considerably in the next few years.

## 4 Testing the ion-molecule model

In the ion-molecule model of dark cloud chemistry the steady-state abundance of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is straightforward to calculate and leads to a simple and noteworthy result. Production of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is via reaction (1.2), where the cosmic ray ionisation rate, $`\zeta `$, is thought to be $``$$`\times `$ 10-17 sec-1 (e.g., see McCall et al. 1999). Destruction is via reactions of type (3); of these CO (if not largely frozen out on grains when T $`<`$ 20 K) is the dominant reactant (kCO = 1.8 $`\times `$ 10-9 sec-1, Anicich & Huntress 1986), although the reaction of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ with atomic oxygen also is important. Despite a high reaction rate, dissociative recombination on electrons is unlikely in dark clouds because of the very low electron concentrations. Then, equating the rates of formation and destruction,

$$\zeta n(\mathrm{H}_2)\mathrm{k}_{\mathrm{CO}}\mathrm{n}(\mathrm{H}_3^+)\mathrm{n}(\mathrm{CO}),$$
(5)
relating in one simple equation perhaps the three most important molecules in astronomy. Using the result from models of dark cloud chemistry that n(CO)/n($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) is approximately constant at 1.5 $`\times `$ 10-4 (Lee et al. 1996), this equation reduces to

$$n(\mathrm{H}_3^+)1\times 10^4\mathrm{cm}^3.$$
(6)
That the number density of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is constant in dark clouds is highly unusual; the number densities of other molecular constituents of the cloud scale as the total density. The behavior of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ derives from its rates of production and destruction both scaling with the first power of the cloud density, whereas production rates for most other molecules scale as density squared.

Thus, the fractional abundance of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, n($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$)/n($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) $``$ 10-4/n($`\mathrm{H}_2`$), varies inversely with cloud density. If the cloud density is known, 10-4/n($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) can be compared with N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+)`$/N($`\mathrm{H}_2`$), where N($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) has been measured or estimated (e.g. from the silicate feature). In general cloud densities are not accurately determined; however, studies of the collisional excitation of various molecular species imply that densities in the W33A and GL2136 clouds, as well as in most other clouds where $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ has been sought, are 104 – 105 cm-3. An additional uncertainty is that densities probably vary significantly within these clouds. For the above density range n($`\mathrm{H}_3^+)`$/n($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) is 10-8 – 10-9. The values of 2 $`\times `$ 10-9 for N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+)`$/N($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) found toward W33A and GL2136 fall within this range, as do the values toward other sources for which $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ has been detected (McCall et al. 1999). For clouds where only upper limits are available for N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$), the upper limits on N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+)`$/N($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) are greater than 10-9, and hence predicted values of n($`\mathrm{H}_3^+)`$/n($`\mathrm{H}_2`$) are not ruled out.

A second test is to use the observed column densities of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ to calculate the lengths of the absorbing columns of the clouds via the relation L $``$ N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$)/n($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$) $``$ 104N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$). For typical column densities (e.g., 5 $`\times `$ 1014 cm-2) the derived lengths are 1-2 pc (McCall et al. 1999), where 1 pc = 3.086 $`\times `$1018 cm. These are comparable to the measured linear extents of the clouds on the sky, as would be expected. Where upper limits to N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$), and hence L, have been found, the results can be reasonably explained by shorter absorption columns and/or denser clouds.

Thus, although only crude checks can be made at present, the derived abundances of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in dark clouds confirm the importance of cosmic-ray induced ion-molecule chemistry in those environments.

## 5 $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in diffuse interstellar gas

In the course of the aforementioned survey of dark clouds for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ by McCall et al. (1999), strong absorption by the 3.67 $`\mu `$m doublet was discovered along lines of sight to two infrared sources in the Galactic centre on 1997 July 11 (Geballe et al. 1999; figure 5). The visual extinction toward the Galactic centre, $``$30 mag (Geballe et al. 1989), is comparable to those toward infrared sources in dark clouds in which $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ had been found, but N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$) is nearly an order of magnitude greater. The line of sight to the Galactic center, some 8 kpc long, is known to contain both dark clouds and diffuse (low density) clouds which are penetrable at least to some extent by visible radiation. (McFadzean et al. 1989). Thus interpretation of the spectra is not obvious, although it is clear from the velocity profile of the absorption that some of the $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is located in dark clouds known from radio/millimetre and infrared spectroscopy.

The previously unforeseen possibility that $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in low density clouds also could be detectable prompted a search (on the same night) for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ toward one of the archetypal probes of the diffuse interstellar medium, the visible star Cygnus OB2 No. 12, which is obscured by 10 visual magnitudes. The $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ doublet was easily detected there (figure 5). Analysis of this spectrum and one obtained later containing an additional line yields N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$) = 3.8 $`\times `$ 1014 cm-2, comparable to that in dark clouds, and T$``$30 K (McCall et al. 1998).

Understanding this result has proved more elusive than understanding the observations of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in dark clouds. In a classical diffuse cloud H and $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ are roughly equally abundant and there is little CO (van Dishoeck & Black 1986). Little H is ionised by ultraviolet photons except at the edges of the cloud. The $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ within the cloud also is shielded from ionisation, which requires photons of $``$15.4 eV, by the ionisation of atomic hydrogen (requiring $``$13.6 eV photons) on the periphery. Within the cloud $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is formed in the same way as in dense clouds (reaction 1.2 followed by 1.1). Destruction of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, however, is expected to be dominated by electron recombination, because the essentially complete single ionisation of gaseous atomic carbon produces a much higher concentration of electrons than in dark clouds. (Despite depletion onto dust particles, atomic carbon is abundant in diffuse clouds and requires only $``$11.3 eV photons for ionisation to C+.) Cardelli et al. (1996) and Sofia et al. (1997) have measured the abundance ratio of atomic carbon to hydrogen, zC, to be 1.4 $`\times `$10-4 in diffuse clouds. As in the case of dark clouds, the density of the $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$-destroyer (in this case electrons, rather than CO), roughly scales with the hydrogen density. Thus, a simple expression again is obtained for the steady state density of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ (Geballe et al. 1999),

$$n(\mathrm{H}_3^+)\zeta /(4\mathrm{k}_\mathrm{e}\mathrm{z}_\mathrm{C})1\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}^3,$$
(7)
where ke = 2.1 $`\times `$ 10$`^6`$T-0.5 cm3 s-1 (Sundström et al. 1998) is evaluated at 30 K. Once again the density of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is roughly constant, but in a diffuse cloud its value is roughly three orders of magnitude less than in a dark cloud. As the total gas density in a typical diffuse cloud is also a few orders of magnitude less, concentrations of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ are comparable in the two environments.

If the absorbing low density cloud or collection of clouds between Cygnus OB2 No. 12 and the earth are as described above, the aggregate absorption path length must be $``$ 1 kpc in order to produce the observed line strengths. This length, roughly half the 1.7 kpc distance from the earth to the Cygnus OB2 association (Torres-Dodgen et al. 1991), seems physically unreasonable. The mean gas density along such an absorbing path, $``$10 cm-3, is insufficient for $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ to be relatively abundant and hence for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ to form. It also is inconsistent with observations of C2 (Souza & Lutz 1977; Gredel & Münch 1994), and CO (Geballe et al. 1999) toward Cygnus OB2 No. 12, which imply that the C2 is located in clouds with densities at least an order of magnitude higher and that the CO exists at even higher densities. Different values for $`\zeta `$ and/or ke could explain the discrepancy. The cosmic ray ionisation rate may be larger in the vicinity of an association of hot stars such as Cygnus OB2 than in an isolated dark cloud, but the difference is unlikely to be an order of magnitude. Alternatively, at low temperatures ke may have to be considerably smaller to bring the above model into agreement with the observations.

Recently Cecchi-Pestellini & Dalgarno (2000) have suggested that much of the material obscuring Cygnus OB2 No. 12 is in clumps of gas containing both dense and diffuse components. Using a somewhat higher cosmic ray ionisation rate than adopted here, they fit the observations of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, C2, and CO with nine such cloudlets of density 102 cm-3, embedded in some of which are much higher density cores where most of the carbon is in the form of CO. The summed column length through these clumps is $``$60 pc, far less than the derived $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ absorption length of 1 kpc for classical diffuse clouds. High resolution spectroscopy of C2 (Gredel & Münch 1994) shows the presence of four distinct low density cloudlets along the line of sight to Cygnus OB2 No. 12, while millimetre and infrared spectroscopy of CO (Geballe et al. 1999) demonstrates that at least two of these contain CO and that some of the CO probably is located in dense regions. More sensitive measurements may reveal additional clumps.

## 6 Conclusion

The observations to date demonstrate that, as predicted, $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is an ubiquitous constituent of dark clouds. The detected column densities and upper limits are consistent with its production by cosmic ray ionisation of $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ and destruction via reactions with neutrals which form the base of an extensive ion-molecule reaction network. Thus the detection of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ provides a crowning confirmation of the theories of Herbst & Klemperer and Watson, proposed nearly three decades ago to account for the rich chemistry observed in these clouds.

Because its density is constant in dark clouds, $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ is a unique tool for astronomers, with the potential of determining two fundamental parameters: line of sight distances in the clouds and accurate values of $`\zeta `$, the cosmic ray ionisation rate. However, a glance at equation 4.1 reveals that a measurement of N($`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$) only determines the product of $`\zeta `$ and the column length. More sophisticated approaches are needed to determine the values of these fundamental parameters. These could involve, for example, more detailed modelling of well-observed dark clouds to determine line of sight distances and density profiles. Direct measurements of the column densities of $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ and CO can provide additional constraints. Alternatively, statistical studies of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in many clouds, using background infrared sources could provide multiple line of sight distances through each cloud, to be compared with the cloud’s linear extent on the sky. Whatever strategies are employed, observational progress clearly requires the use of the new and future generations of large telescopes and sensitive spectrometers, as many of the background sources will be considerably fainter than those that have been utilised to date to detect $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$.

The surprisingly large amounts of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ found toward the Galactic centre and especially toward Cygnus OB2 No. 12 suggest that our understanding of the physical conditions of the gas on these sight lines needs refinement. The model of Cecchi-Pestellini and Dalgarno (2000) for the material in front of Cygnus OB2 reminds us that environments intermediate between classical dark and classical diffuse clouds can exist. It also indicates that spectroscopy of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, whose steady state abundance is highly sensitive to the densities of the neutrals, $`\mathrm{H}_2`$ and CO, and the electrons, can play a key role in characterising these environments. Measurements of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$, CO and other molecules toward additional obscured stars in Cygnus OB2 along with searches for $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in additional objects obscured by diffuse gas are important next steps towards understanding these largely low density environments.

The discovery of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ toward the Galactic centre immediately suggests the possibility of detecting $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in extragalactic environments. An initial search on UKIRT is already under way, but it is clear that observations using 8-10m telescopes will be required to reach more than a few of the promising candidate galaxies. In the longer term, with telescopes such as the Next Generation Space Telescope and even larger aperture ground-based telescopes, we can anticipate that spectroscopy of $`\mathrm{H}_3^+`$ in external galaxies, in combination with observations of CO and other molecules, will be a standard technique used to probe in detail the properties of interstellar gas in the distant universe.

###### Acknowledgements.

I wish to thank T. Oka and B. J. McCall, not only for helpful comments during the preparation of this paper, but also for many enlightening discussions during our years of collaboration. I am especially grateful to the staff, present and past, of the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and indeed to all of those who have supported it.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes continue to attract a great deal of attention, primarily because of the recently conjectured AdS conformal field theory (CFT) correspondence principle . This principle posits a relationship between supergravity or string theory in bulk AdS spacetimes and conformal field theories on the boundary. It offers the tantalizing possibility that a full quantum theory of gravity could be described by a well understood CFT-Yang-Mills theory (albeit with the asymptotic AdS criterion). Observables in the quantum gravity theory could be computed using quantum field-theoretic methods, and vice versa. Although there is no proof of the conjecture, a dictionary is emerging that translates between different quantities in the bulk gravity theory and its counterparts on the boundary, including the partition functions and correlation functions of each. A set of quantities of particular interest are those associated with gravitational thermodynamics. It has long been known that a physical entropy $`S`$ and temperature $`\beta ^1`$ can be ascribed to a given black hole configuration, where these quantities are respectively proportional to the area and surface gravity of the event horizon(s) . Other black hole properties, such as energy, angular momentum and conserved charge can also be given a thermodynamic interpretation . More recently it has been shown that entropy can be associated with a broader and qualitatively different object called a Misner string, which is the gravitational analogue of a Dirac string .

In general the problem of defining and calculating gravitational thermodynamic quantities remains a lively subject of interest. Because they typically diverge for both asymptotically flat and asymptotically AdS spacetimes, a common approach toward evaluating them has been to carry out all computations relative to some other spacetime that is regarded as the ground state for the class of spacetimes of interest. This is done by taking the original action $`I_G=I_{}+I_{}`$ for gravity coupled to matter fields and subtracting from it a reference action $`I_0`$, which is a functional of the induced metric $`\gamma `$ on the boundary $``$. Conserved and/or thermodynamic quantities are then computed relative to this boundary, which can then be taken to (spatial) infinity if desired.

This approach has been widely successful in providing a description of gravitational thermodynamics in regions of both finite and infinite spatial extent . Unfortunately it suffers from several drawbacks. The choice of reference spacetime is not always unique , nor is it always possible to embed a boundary with a given induced metric into the reference background. Indeed, for Kerr spacetimes, this latter problem forms a serious obstruction towards calculating the subtraction energy, and calculations have only been performed in the slow-rotating regime .

An extension of this approach, which addresses these difficulties was recently developed based on the conjectured AdS/CFT correspondence . Since quantum field theories in general contain counterterms, it is natural from the AdS/CFT viewpoint to append a boundary term $`I_{ct}`$ to the action that depends on the intrinsic geometry of the (timelike) boundary at large spatial distances. This requirement, along with general covariance, implies that these terms be functionals of curvature invariants of the induced metric and have no dependence on the extrinsic curvature of the boundary. An algorithmic procedure  exists for constructing $`I_{ct}`$ for asymptotically AdS spacetimes, and so its determination is unique. The addition of $`I_{ct}`$ will not affect the bulk equations of motion, thereby eliminating the need to embed the given geometry in a reference spacetime. Hence thermodynamic and conserved quantities can now be calculated intrinsically for any given spacetime. The efficacy of this approach has been demonstrated in a broad range of examples, all of them in the spatially infinite limit, where the AdS/CFT correspondence applies . However this limit is an idealization, and can never be satisfied in reality.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of including $`I_{ct}`$ for quasilocal gravitational thermodynamics for situations in which the region enclosed by $``$ is spatially finite. There are several reasons for considering this. Although the AdS/CFT correspondence is conjectured to be valid only at infinity, from a gravitational viewpoint the inclusion of additional boundary functionals is not uniquely dependent upon this correspondence and could in fact be carried out even if the conjecture is ultimately found to be invalid. It is, therefore of interest to explore the implications of $`I_{ct}`$ outside of its original conceptual framework. Furthermore, the inclusion of $`I_{ct}`$ eliminates the embedding problem from consideration whether or not the spatially infinite limit is taken, and it is of interest to see what its impact is on quasilocal thermodynamics. Since $`I_{ct}`$ is a functional of the induced metric, it will in general depend upon parameters in the solution related to conserved quantities at infinity, and could conceivably alter the results obtained for quasilocal thermodynamics relative to a fixed background. Of course $`I_{ct}`$ itself is no longer unique, since one could add any functional of curvature invariants that vanished at infinity in a given dimension. However the expression for $`I_{ct}`$ obtained by the algorithm given in Ref.  is the minimal one required to eliminate divergences, and therefore merits study.

We specifically consider in this paper an investigation of the thermodynamic properties of the class of Kerr and Kerr AdS black holes in the context of spatially finite boundary conditions, with the boundary action supplemented by $`I_{ct}`$. With their lower degree of symmetry relative to spherically symmetric black holes, these spacetimes allow for a more detailed study of the consequences of including $`I_{ct}`$ for spatially finite boundaries. Although the inclusion of $`I_{ct}`$ was originally proposed for asymptotically AdS spacetimes, it has been demonstrated that it can be extended to asymptotically flat spacetimes  under certain topological constraints . We consider the implications of this extension for Kerr black holes in spatially finite regions.

The outline of our paper is as follows. We review the basic formalism in Sec. 2. In the next two sections we compute the quasilocal energy, mass, and angular momentum for the Kerr and Kerr-anti-de Sitter black holes respectively. These quantities must be computed numerically for general values of the parameters, and we present our results graphically. We perform a simple stability analysis for each case, and compare this to previous analyses carried out at infinity . We finish our paper with some concluding remarks.

## 2 General Formalism

The action is the sum of three kinds of terms. The first two are a volume (or bulk) term

$$I_v=\frac{1}{16\pi }_{}d^4x\sqrt{g}[2\mathrm{\Lambda }+(\mathrm{\Phi })]$$
(1)
and a boundary term

$$I_b=\frac{1}{8\pi }_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\mathrm{\Theta }(\gamma )$$
(2)
chosen so that the variational principle is well defined. The Euclidean manifold $``$ has the metric $`g_{\mu \nu }`$, covariant derivative $`_\mu `$, and time coordinate $`\tau `$ which foliates $``$ into non-singular hypersurfaces $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau `$ with unit normal $`u_\mu `$ over a real line interval $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$. $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the trace of the extrinsic curvature $`\mathrm{\Theta }^{\mu \nu }`$ of any boundary(ies) $``$ of the manifold $``$, with the induced metric(s) $`\gamma _{ij}`$; the manifold can have internal boundary components as well as a boundary at infinity, although only the latter will be needed in what follows. Here $`(\mathrm{\Phi })`$ is the matter Lagrangian and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ the cosmological constant, which, in what follows, will be taken to be either zero or negative.

In general $`I_v`$ and $`I_b`$ are both divergent when evaluated on solutions, as is the Hamiltonian, and other associated thermodynamic quantities . Rather than eliminating these divergences by incorporating a reference term in the spacetime , a new term $`I_{ct}`$ is added to the action which is a functional only of boundary curvature invariants. Although there are a very large number of possible invariants one could add in a given dimension, only a finite number of them can eliminate the divergences at spatial infinity, which arise from $`I_v`$ and $`I_b`$. For an asymptotically AdS spacetime, these can be determined by an algorithmic procedure . Quantities such as energy, entropy, etc., can then be understood as intrinsically defined for a given spacetime, as opposed to being defined relative to some abstract (and non-unique) background, although this latter option is still available. In four dimensions the algorithm yields

$$I_{ct(AdS)}=\frac{2}{l}\frac{1}{8\pi }_{_{\mathrm{}}}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\left(1+\frac{l^2}{4}(\gamma )\right),$$
(3)
where $`l^2=3/|\mathrm{\Lambda }|`$ and the coefficients have been chosen  so that the total action $`I=I_v+I_b+I_{ct(Ads)}`$ is finite. We shall study the implications of including the terms in (3) for Kerr-AdS black holes in spatially finite regions. Although other counterterms (of higher mass dimension) may be added to $`I_{ct}`$, they will make no contribution to the evaluation of the action or Hamiltonian due to the rate at which they decrease toward spatial infinity, and we shall not consider them in our analysis here.

A generalization of the prescription (3) to spacetimes that are not asymptotically AdS is

$$I_{ct}=\frac{2}{l}\frac{1}{8\pi }_{_{\mathrm{}}}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\sqrt{1+\frac{l^2}{2}(\gamma )},$$
(4)
which is equivalent to Eq. (3) for small $`l`$ (as well as fixed $`l`$ and large mean boundary radius), and which (formally) has a well defined limit for vanishing cosmological constant ($`l\mathrm{}`$). A similar formula, in which $`(\gamma )`$ is replaced with the Ricci scalar of a large nearly spherical 2-surface embedded in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ was proposed by Lau . We shall consider the implications of using Eq. (4) for Kerr black holes in spatially finite regions in the $`l\mathrm{}`$ limit. As in the asymptotically AdS case, although there are terms of higher mass dimension that could be included, we shall not consider these, since Eq. (4) is sufficient to remove divergences at spatial infinity for this case. An algorithmic procedure, developed for asymptotically flat cases yields Eq. (4), although there are topological restrictions on its applicability .

A thorough discussion of the quasilocal formalism has been given elsewhere  and so we only briefly recapitulate it here. The action can be written as a linear combination of a volume term Eq. (1), a boundary term Eq. (2) and a counterterm which we shall take to be Eq. (4) in either the small-$`l`$ or $`l\mathrm{}`$ limits:

$$I=\frac{1}{16\pi }\left\{_{}d^4x\sqrt{\gamma }+2_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\mathrm{\Theta }_{}d^3x_{\text{ct}}\right\}.$$
(5)
Under the variation of the metric $`\gamma ,`$ one obtains:

$$\delta I=[\text{terms that vanish when the equations of motion hold}]^{\mu \nu }\delta g_{\mu \nu }+_{}d^3x(P^{ij}+Q^{ij})]\delta \gamma _{ij}$$
(6)
where

$`P^{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\gamma }}{16\pi }}(\mathrm{\Theta }\gamma ^{ij}\mathrm{\Theta }^{ij}),`$ (7)
$`Q^{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\gamma }}{16\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{_{\text{ct}}}{\gamma _{ij}}},`$ (8)
and Latin letters are used as indices for tensors on hypersurfaces.

Decomposing the metric $`\gamma _{ij}`$ on the timelike boundary $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_\tau \times \mathrm{{\rm Y}}=\times \mathrm{{\rm Y}}=𝒯`$ which connects the initial and final hypersurfaces

$$\gamma _{ij}dx^idx^j=N^2dt^2+\sigma _{ab}\left(dx^a+V^a\right)\left(dx^b+V^b\right)$$
(9)
yields after some manipulation

$$\delta I|_𝒯=_𝒯d^3x\sqrt{\sigma }\left(\epsilon \delta N+j_a\delta V^a+\frac{1}{2}Ns^{ab}\delta \sigma _{ab}\right),$$
(10)
where the coefficients of the varied fields are

$`\epsilon `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N\sqrt{\sigma }}}(P^{ij}+Q^{ij})u_iu_j,`$ (11)
$`j_a`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N\sqrt{\sigma }}}\sigma _{ai}(P^{ij}+Q^{ij})u_{j\text{ }},`$ (12)
$`s^{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N\sqrt{\sigma }}}\sigma _i^a\sigma _j^b(P^{ij}+Q^{ij}),`$ (13)
and we see that the counterterm variation $`Q^{ij}`$ supplants terms which come from a reference action in the original formulation of the quasilocal technique. The standard assumption  for the reference action is that it is a linear functional of the lapse $`N`$ and shift $`V^a`$ so that its contributions to $`\epsilon `$ and $`j_a`$ depend only on the induced two-metric $`\sigma _{ab}`$, whose determinant we denote by $`\sigma `$. This assumption does not hold for the counterterm prescription (4).

Since $`\sqrt{\sigma }\epsilon `$ is the time rate of change of the action, $`\epsilon `$ is identified with the energy density on the surface $``$, and the total quasilocal energy for the system is therefore

$$E=_{}d^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\epsilon ,$$
(14)
and this quantity can be meaningfully associated with the thermodynamic energy of the system .Using similar reasoning, the quantities $`j_a`$ and $`s^{ab}`$ are respectively referred to as the momentum surface density and the spatial stress.

When there is a Killing vector field $`\xi `$ on the boundary $`𝒯`$ , an associated conserved charge is defined by

$$𝒬\left(\xi \right)=_{}d^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\left(\epsilon u^i+j^i\right)\xi _i$$
(15)
provided there is no matter stress energy in the neighborhood of $`𝒯`$ (this assumption can be dropped, allowing one to compute the time rate of change of $`𝒬`$, if desired ). When this holds, the value of $`𝒬`$ is independent of the particular hypersurface $``$ , a property not shared by the energy $`E`$. For boundaries with timelike ($`\xi =/t`$) and rotational ($`\varsigma =/\varphi `$) Killing vector fields (which encompass all the metrics we consider in this paper) we obtain

$`M`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{}}d^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\left(\epsilon u^i+j^i\right)\xi _i`$ (16)
$`J`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{}}d^2x\sqrt{\sigma }j^i\varsigma _i`$ (17)
provided the surface $``$ contains the orbits of $`\varsigma `$. These quantities are respectively the conserved mass and angular momentum of the system enclosed by the boundary. Note that they will both be dependent upon the location of the boundary $``$ in the spacetime, although each is independent of the particular choice of foliation $``$ within the surface $`𝒯`$.

In the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence the limit in which the boundary $``$ becomes infinite is taken, and the counterterm prescription  ensures that the conserved charges (15) are finite. No embedding of the surface $`𝒯`$ into a reference spacetime is required. This is of particular advantage for the class of Kerr spacetimes, in which it is not possible to embed an arbitrary two-dimensional boundary surface into a flat (or constant-curvature) spacetime . The counterterm (4) includes the minimal number of boundary curvature invariants for which this holds in both the large-$`l`$ and $`𝒪\left(l\right)`$ limits. We shall consider the extension of Eq. (4) away from the $`\mathrm{}`$ limit in what follows.

The class of metrics we shall henceforth consider are the Kerr-AdS family of solutions, whose general form is

$`ds^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_r}{\rho ^2}}(dt{\displaystyle \frac{a}{\mathrm{\Xi }}}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi )^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho ^2}{\mathrm{\Delta }_r}}dr^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho ^2}{\mathrm{\Delta }_\theta }}d\theta ^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta }{\rho ^2}}[adt{\displaystyle \frac{(r^2+a^2)}{\mathrm{\Xi }}}d\varphi ]^2`$
in $`(3+1)`$ dimensions, where

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_r`$ $`=`$ $`(r^2+a^2)(1+r^2/l^2)2mr;`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_\theta `$ $`=`$ $`1a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta /l^2;`$ (19)
$`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ $`=`$ $`1a^2/l^2;`$
$`\rho ^2`$ $`=`$ $`r^2+a^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta ,`$
and where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=3/l^2`$. The metric has two horizons located at $`r_\pm `$ , provided the parameter $`m`$ is sufficiently large relative to the other parameters, specifically

$$m\frac{l}{3\sqrt{6}}\left(\sqrt{1+14\frac{a^2}{l^2}+\frac{a^4}{l^4}}+2\left(1+\frac{a^2}{l^2}\right)\right)\sqrt{\sqrt{1+14\frac{a^2}{l^2}+\frac{a^4}{l^4}}\left(1+\frac{a^2}{l^2}\right)}m_{\text{crit}}$$
(20)
In the limit $`l\mathrm{}`$, $`r_\pm =m\pm \sqrt{m^2a^2}`$, and $`m_{\text{crit}}=a`$.

For $`m=0,`$ the metric (2) is that of pure AdS spacetime (or flat spacetime if $`l\mathrm{}`$), and for $`a=0,`$ the metric is that of Schwarzchild-AdS spacetime which has zero angular momentum. Hence we expect the parameters $`a`$ and $`m`$ to be associated with the mass and angular momentum of the spacetime, respectively. This can be confirmed using conformal completion methods , for which we find that the total mass $`M_t`$ and angular momentum $`J_t`$ are given by

$$M_t=\frac{m}{\mathrm{\Xi }}\text{ },J_t=\frac{am}{\mathrm{\Xi }^2},$$
(21)
a result corroborated by counterterm methods .

We turn now to consider the extension of (4) away from the $`\mathrm{}`$ limit.

## 3 Kerr Metric

Here we take $`l\mathrm{}`$, and so the action can be written as

$$I=\frac{1}{16\pi }\left\{_{}d^4x\sqrt{\gamma }+2_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\mathrm{\Theta }2\sqrt{2}_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\sqrt{(\gamma )}\right\}$$
(22)
We write, for convenience, $`Q^{ij}=Q_2^{ij}+Q_3^{ij}`$ where

$`Q_2^{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\gamma }}{16\pi }}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{}}}(R^{ij}\gamma ^{ij})`$ (23)
$`Q_3^{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\gamma }}{16\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\left(_a(^a^{1/2})\gamma ^{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}^{(i}(^{j)}^{1/2})\right)`$ (24)
and the energy of the system can be written as :

$$E=E_1+E_2+E_3;E_i=_{}d^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\epsilon _i,$$
(25)
where $``$ is a 2-dimensional surface defined by setting the radial coordinate to a constant value $`r=R`$, and $`\epsilon _1,`$ $`\epsilon _2,`$ $`\epsilon _3`$ are given by

$`\epsilon _1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N\sqrt{\sigma }}}P^{ij}u_iu_j`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}R{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{1+A^22M}[(M1)A^2z^22(1+M)A^2]}{\{(1+A^2z^2)[(1+A^22M)A^2z^2+1+A^2+2MA^2]\}^{1/2}}}`$
$`\epsilon _2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N\sqrt{\sigma }}}Q_2^{ij}u_iu_j`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}R\{(A^42M)A^4z^4+(2A^27MA^2+24MA^47M)A^2z^2`$
$`+1+A^2+3MA^2+A^4M\}`$
$`\times \{(12MA^2z^2+A^2z^2)[(1+A^22M)A^2z^2+1+2MA^2+A^2](1+A^2z^2)^3\}^{1/2}`$
$`\epsilon _3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N\sqrt{\sigma }}}Q_3^{ij}u_iu_j`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}R\{(12M^2)(1+A^22M)A^8z^{10}`$
$`+(12M)(12M^24A^2M^224M6MA^2+9+9A^2)A^6z^8`$
$`+\left[(2M1)^3A^4\left(36M^342M^27M+14\right)A^2+(2M1)\left(2M^2+15M15\right)\right]A^4z^6`$
$`+\left[3(2M1)(M1)A^4\left(8M^3+36M^225M8\right)A^28M^212M+11\right]A^2z^4`$
$`+(38A^4M^33A^4+3M+15A^2M+4A^4M^2+6A^2M^2)z^2`$
$`1MA^22A^2M^23A^2M\}`$
$`\times \{(12MA^2z^2+A^2z^2)^5[(1+A^22M)A^2z^2+1+2MA^2+A^2](1+A^2z^2)^3\}^{1/2}`$
where $`z=\mathrm{cos}\theta `$ and $`A=a/R`$ and $`M=m/R`$.

For arbitrary values of $`A`$and $`M`$, the term $`E_1`$ can be integrated analytically in terms of Elliptic functions. Although the terms $`E_{2\text{ }}`$and $`E_3`$ cannot be analytically integrated, a term-by-term expansion of $`E_3`$ in powers of $`A`$ indicates that it is zero, a fact that can also be verified numerically.

For small angular momentum $`A`$, $`E`$ can be integrated easily:

$$E=R\{1\sqrt{1+A^22M}+\frac{A^2}{6}[2(1+M)+(1+2M)\sqrt{1+A^22M}]+O(A^4)]\}.$$
(29)
In the asymptotic limit $`R\mathrm{},`$the energy approaches the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) energy $`M`$, and for the case of $`A=0,`$ one gets the thermodynamic energy of a Schwarzschild black hole, which is equivalent to its mass. The expression (29) was obtained by Martinez  using the quasilocal method with a flat reference spacetime in which the constant-$`R`$ boundary was embedded in the small-$`A`$ limit. However even in this limit the embedding was technically quite complicated. We find it interesting that the counterterm prescription (22), extended to finite values of fixed $`R,`$ gives exactly the same answer to this order in $`A`$.

We next consider the total energy $`E`$ in (25) for $`R=r_+`$ where $`r_+`$ is the radius of the outer horizon. In this case we can exactly compute $`E`$ in terms of elliptic functions:

$$E(r_+)=\frac{1+A_+^2}{2}r_+[(4+\frac{3}{A_+^2})F(A_+^2,\frac{i}{A_+})5E(A_+^2,\frac{i}{A_+})5\sqrt{1A_+^2}]$$
(30)
where $`i^2=1`$, $`A_+=a/r_+`$, and

$$E(z,k)=_0^z𝑑t\frac{\sqrt{1k^2t^2}}{\sqrt{1t^2}}F(z,k)=_0^z𝑑t\frac{1}{\sqrt{1t^2}\sqrt{1k^2t^2}}$$

are the definitions of the elliptic functions $`E(z,k)`$ and $`F(z,k)`$ .

In Fig.. 1 we plot the $`A_+`$-dependence of the energy at the horizon. In the slow-rotation approximation it has been shown that

$$E\left(r_+\right)=2M_i\left[1+𝒪\left(\frac{a^4}{M_i^4}\right)\right],$$
(31)
where

$$M_i=\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{r_+^2+a^2}$$
(32)
is the irreducible mass of the Kerr black hole , the maximal amount of energy which can be extracted from a black hole via the Penrose process. It was conjectured in Ref.  that the relation $`E\left(r_+\right)=2M_i`$ is an exact relation, valid for any value of $`A`$. We see using the counterterm prescription that this conjecture is not correct and that (31) is only an approximation which breaks down for $`\frac{a}{R}>0.5`$, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

We next consider evaluation of the energy for fixed arbitrary values of $`R`$. The calculation of $`E_{2\text{ }}`$ must be carried out numerically, and in a manner which yields a well defined integral. This means that the parameters of the integral must be such that the location of the quasilocal surface must be outside of the event horizon and the induced Ricci scalar $`(\gamma )`$ must be positive. These criteria are satisfied provided that $`A`$ and $`M`$ are such that :

$`\text{a) For }M0.5\text{ then}0AM,`$
$`\text{b) For }0.5M1\text{ then }\sqrt{2M1}AM.`$ (33)
$`\text{c) }A1,M1`$
We plot the dependence of $`E(M,A)`$ in Figs. 3 and 4 below, consistent with these constraints. As one can see from Fig. 3, for small values of $`M`$ ($`M<0.4`$) the energy is a weakly varying function of $`A`$ but as $`M`$ increases the $`A`$-dependence of energy becomes more relevant. For example the average value of $`\left|E/A\right|`$ is approximately $`10^2`$ and $`10`$ for $`M=0.1`$ and $`M=0.8`$ respectively. Of course these values of $`M=m/R`$ depend on the value of the radius $`R`$ which is chosen for the quasilocal surface.

Now we consider the quasilocal conserved charges of the Kerr metric. The Kerr metric has two Killing vectors and therefore there exist two conserved quantities. The first one, which is due to the timelike Killing vector $`\xi ^a=(/t)^a`$, is associated with the conserved mass, $`,`$ of the system expressed as:

$$=_Bd^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\frac{2}{N}(P^{ij}+Q_2^{ij}+Q_3^{ij})u_i\xi _j,$$
(34)
where $`N`$ is the lapse function. For the case of $`R=r_+`$, we can explicitly compute the conserved mass:

$$\left(r_+\right)=\frac{1}{2}r_+A^2=\frac{a^2}{2r_+}=m\frac{1}{2}r_+=\frac{1}{2}r_{}$$
(35)
which should be compared with the expression for the quasilocal energy. In the limit of slow rotation it vanishes, a strikingly different feature from that of the energy as given in eq. (31) , which in this limit equals $`2m`$ . As $`R\mathrm{}`$ we find that $`Mm`$ as expected.

It is clear from Figs. 3 and 4 that the energy for a fixed value of $`A`$ is an increasing function of $`M.`$ This is not the case for the conserved mass $`(M,A)`$ in (34), which for fixed $`A<0.5`$ has a maximum value for $`M\frac{1}{3}`$, with the bound being saturated for the Schwarzchild solution when $`A=0`$. We plot in Figs. 5 and 6 the behavior of the conserved charge $`(M,A)`$ for fixed $`A`$ and $`M`$ respectively. We find that the value of $``$ due to the $`Q_3^{ij}`$ third term in eq. (34) is very small compared to that of the first two terms.

The second non-trivial conserved charge is the $`\phi `$ component of the angular momentum, $`J_\phi ,`$ which can be expressed as :

$$J_\phi =d^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\frac{2}{N}(P^{ij}+Q_2^{ij}+Q_3^{ij})u_i\sigma _{ja}\zeta ^a,$$
(36)
where $`\zeta ^a`$ is Killing vector $`(\frac{}{\phi }).`$ Remarkably we find that the counter terms $`Q_2^{ij}+Q_3^{ij}`$ , while non-zero, give a vanishing contribution upon integration in (36). Hence the total angular momentum is due entirely to the first term, which is:

$$J_\phi =r^2MA=ma$$
(37)
valid for any quasilocal surface of fixed $`r=R`$.

We turn next to thermodynamic considerations of the Kerr black hole. The interior of the quasilocal surface can be regarded as a thermodynamic system which is co-rotating with an exterior heat bath whose angular velocity is $`\mathrm{\Omega }_H`$ , where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_H=\frac{a}{r_+^2+a^2}`$ is the angular velocity of the event horizon. Zero angular momentum observors (ZAMO’s) at a given position outside of the black hole measure a proper inverse temperture $`\beta _{\text{ZAMO}}=N\beta `$ and a proper angular velocity $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\text{ZAMO}}(r,\theta )=N^1\left(\mathrm{\Omega }_H\frac{d\varphi }{dt}\right)`$. However quasilocal thermodynamic quantities are generally given by surface integrals over the boundary data rather than by products of constant surface data. In particular, it is not possible to choose the quasilocal surface to simultaneously be both isothermal and a surface of constant $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\text{ZAMO}}`$ and neither is true for the quasilocal surface we have chosen (one at fixed $`r=R`$). Furthermore it is by now well recognized that the entropy of a black hole depends only on the geometry of its horizon in the classical approximation, and is conversely independent of the asymptotic behavior of the gravitational field or of the presence of external matter fields. For stationary black holes, the entropy is one-quarter of the horizon area, yielding $`S=\pi \left(r_+^2+a^2\right)=2\pi R^2M(M+\sqrt{M^2A^2})`$ in this case. We therefore shall regard the energy $`E`$ in Eq. (25) as the thermodynamic internal energy for the Kerr black hole within the boundary $`r=R`$, view it as a function of $`R`$ , the entropy $`S`$, and the angular momentum $`J`$, and define the temperature and the angular velocity from their ensemble derivatives, integrated over the quasilocal boundary data.

For the temperature we obtain

$$T=\left(\frac{E}{S}\right)_{R,J}=\frac{1}{4\pi R}\frac{\sqrt{M^2A^2}}{M(M+\sqrt{M^2A^2})}\left(\frac{E}{M}\right)_{R,J}=\frac{\kappa _+}{2\pi R}\left(\frac{E}{M}\right)_{R,J}$$
(38)
where $`\kappa _+`$ is the surface gravity at the outer horizon. The derivative $`\left(\frac{E}{M}\right)_{R,J}`$ is obtained by taking the derivatives of the terms in Eqs. (33 ) above and then performing the integration with respect to $`z=\mathrm{cos}\theta `$. It is straightforward to show that ($`E/M)_{R,J}1`$ as $`R\mathrm{}`$, yielding the usual relationship between temperature and surface gravity. However unlike the non-rotating case, it does not give the Tolman redshift factor because a surface of fixed $`r=R`$ is not a surface of constant redshift (it is not an isotherm).

Now we investigate the $`A`$ and $`M`$ dependence of the temperature of a Kerr black hole. The $`A`$ dependence of the temperature is shown in Fig. 7. For $`M<0.4`$ the temperature does not depend on $`A`$ very much (except for $`(MA)/M1,`$where $`T0`$ as $`AM`$), but as $`M`$ increases ( $`M0.5`$) the $`A`$-dependence of $`T`$ becomes more relevant. For the case of $`M>0.5`$ as $`rr_+`$ then $`T`$ goes to infinity and it goes to zero as $`A`$ goes to $`M`$. The $`M`$-dependence of $`T`$ is shown in fig. 8. The $`A`$-dependence of $`(\frac{T}{M})_{J,R}`$ can be seen from fig. 9.

The temperature for a fixed value of $`J`$ does not increase monotically. For example from fig. 9 for $`A=0.1,`$ it can be seen that $`(T/M)_{J,R}`$ is zero at $`M0.16`$, and $`M0.32.`$ These two points correspond to the maximum and minimum of $`T(M,J,R)`$ respectively. $`T(M,J,R)`$ for the Schwarzschild case with $`A=0,`$ has its minimum at $`M=1/3.`$ For small values of $`A`$, the situation is similar; at a fixed value of the temperature $`T`$ below $`T_{\text{min}}`$ there will be only one black hole solution of small $`M`$, in equilibrium with thermal radiation inside the box of characteristic radius $`r=R`$, which will not be far from the extremal solution. At $`T`$ increases above $`T_{\text{min}}`$ two more possible solutions appear, one of slightly larger $`M`$ and one of much larger $`M`$. As $`T`$ increases above $`T_{\text{max}}`$ the two smaller $`M`$ coalesce, leaving only the largest $`M`$ solution. As $`A`$ increases the region for the three distinct black hole solutions becomes vanishingly small, and for sufficiently large $`A,`$ there will be only one black hole solution of large $`M`$.

The heat capacity at constant surface area, $`4\pi R,`$ is defined by:

$$C_R=\left(\frac{E}{T}\right)_{R,J},$$
(39)
where the energy is expressed as a function of $`T`$ and $`R.`$ Expressing the energy and temperature as functions of $`M,J`$ and $`R,`$ then the heat capacity can be written as

$$C_R=\left(\frac{E}{M}\right)_{R,J}\left(\frac{T}{M}\right)_{R,J}^1.$$
(40)
For small values of $`M`$ ($`M<1/3`$), the heat capacity is not positive for all the allowed values of $`A.`$ For example as one can see from fig. 10 for $`M=0.1,`$ the heat capacity is positive only for $`A>0.055`$. Indeed, for each value of $`M`$ $`<1/3`$ there exists an $`A`$ for which the heat capacity becomes infinite . For $`M1/3`$ the heat capacity is negative for a Schwarzschild black hole. However for a Kerr black hole we see from fig. LABEL:Figure\_11 there are some values of $`A`$ for which the heat capacity is positive. There is a phase of stable small black holes and a phase of stable large black holes, separated by a regime of intermediate unstable black holes, as illustrated in fig. 9.

This fact was noted long ago by Davies, who gave the relation

$$a^4+6a^2m^23m^4=0$$
(41)
for the values of $`a/m`$ at which the heat capacity becomes infinite  in the limit $`R\mathrm{}`$. Here since we use the quasilocal energy at $`r=R`$ instead of the ADM mass parameters the relationship is considerably more complicated, and can only be obtained numerically. However the qualitative features remain the same. The $`A`$-dependence of the heat capacity for larger values of $`M`$ can be seen from Figs. 10 and 11. For sufficiently large $`M`$, the heat capacity is positive for all allowed values of $`A`$, and there is a single phase consisting of a large black hole.

Expressing the energy as a function of $`R,`$ $`S`$ and $`J,`$ the angular velocity can be written as

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\left(\frac{E}{J}\right)_{S,R}=\left(\frac{E}{M}\right)_{S,R}\left(\frac{M}{J}\right)_{S,R}=\mathrm{\Omega }_H\left(\frac{E}{M}\right)_{R,S}$$
(42)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_H`$ is the angular velocity at the event horizon. As $`R\mathrm{}`$ , $`(E/M)_{R,S}1`$ and thermodynamic chemical potential conjugate to the angular momentum approaches $`\mathrm{\Omega }_H`$ . The $`A`$ dependence of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is illustrated in Fig. 13.

As expected, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ decreases with decreasing $`A`$. However the derivative $`(E/M)_{R,S}`$ is not positive for all values of $`A`$ once $`M`$ becomes sufficiently large, or (alternatively) $`R`$ becomes sufficiently small. This suggests that some kind of superradiance will take place for sufficiently small quasilocal boundaries. The numerical computation required to extrapolate the curve for $`M=0.5`$ is more intense than the computational power we have available; however we have explicitly checked that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ vanishes for small $`A`$ in this case. We shall not pursue this issue further.

## 4 Kerr-AdS Metric

For the Kerr-AdS metric the action can be written as a linear combination of a volume term, a boundary term and the counterterm (4) in the small-$`l`$ limit:

$$I=\frac{1}{16\pi }\{_{}d^4x\sqrt{\gamma }\left(2\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)+2_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\mathrm{\Theta }\frac{4}{l}_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }(1+\frac{l^2}{4}(\gamma ))\}.$$
(43)
Under variation of the metric, $`\gamma ,`$ one obtains:

$$\delta I=\frac{1}{16\pi }\{[\text{terms that vanish when the equations of motion hold}]\delta g_{ij}+[_{}\sqrt{\gamma }(P^{ij}+Q^{ij})]\delta \gamma _{ij}\},$$
(44)
where now

$$Q^{ij}=\frac{1}{16\pi }(lG^{ij}\frac{2}{l}\gamma ^{ij}).$$
(45)
Therefore the energy of the system can be written as:

$$E=E_1+E_2;E_i=_Bd^2x\sqrt{\sigma }\epsilon _i,$$
(46)
where $`\epsilon _1`$ and $`\epsilon _2`$ are given by

$`\sqrt{\sigma }\epsilon _1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{N}}P^{ij}u_iu_j`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Lr\sqrt{1+L^2+A^2L^2+A^22ML^2}}{4(L^2A^2)(L^2A^2z^2)(1+A^2z^2)}}`$
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{[(L^2A^2ML^2)A^2z^22A^2+A^2L^2+A^2ML^2A^4+2L^2]}{\{(L^2+A^2L^2A^22ML^2A^4)A^2z^2+A^2L^2A^2A^4+2A^2ML^2+L^2\}^{1/2}}}`$
| $`\sqrt{\sigma }\epsilon _2=\frac{2}{N}Q^{ij}u_iu_j`$ |
| --- |
| $`=\frac{Lr}{4(L^2A^2)(1+A^2z^2)^3}\{(L^2+A^2L^2A^4A^22ML^2)A^8z^8`$ |
| $`+(4L^26ML^2+2ML^2A^2+4L^2A^24A^24A^4)A^6z^6`$ |
| $`+(L^4+6ML^2A^4+A^2L^4+6A^2L^27A^2A^4L^2+22ML^2A^24M^2L^4`$ |
| $`7A^4+2A^2L^4M+7L^2+2ML^2)A^4z^4`$ |
| $`+(4A^2L^26A^26A^44ML^2+4A^2M^2L^48A^4L^4M`$ |
| $`+6L^24ML^2A^4+2A^2L^4+4ML^2A^210ML^4+2L^414MA^2L^42A^4L^2)A^2z^2`$ |
| $`+2MA^4L^4+2L^22A^2A^4L^2+L^4A^2+4ML^2A^2+A^2L^2+L^42A^4+4MA^2L^4\}`$ |
| $`\times \{(L^2A^2z^2)[(L^2+A^2L^2A^22ML^2A^4)A^2z^2+A^2L^2A^2A^4+2A^2ML^2+L^2]\}^{1/2}`$ |

(48)
with $`A=a/R`$, $`M=m/R`$ and $`L=l/R`$.

For $`A=0,`$ we recover the quasilocal energy of a Schwarzchild-AdS black hole . Following our previous approach, we first consider special cases in which the integral in Eq. (46) can be evaluated. For $`R=r_+`$, where $`r_+`$ is the radius of the horizon, we find that the total energy can be explicitly computed, yielding

$$E(r_+)=\frac{l^2+3a^2+4r_+^2}{2(l^2a^2)}l$$
(49)
For small values of angular momentum, $`E`$ can be integrated easily. Then the total energy for small $`A`$ is:

$$E=\frac{R}{L}\{\frac{2+L^2}{2}+\frac{2}{3}A^2(1+M+\frac{1}{L^2})\sqrt{1+A^22M+\frac{1+A^2}{L^2}}[1+\frac{A^2}{6}(1+2M\frac{4}{L^2})]+O(A^4)\}$$
(50)
When $`A=0`$ the energy is given by

$$E=R\left(\frac{1}{L}+\frac{L}{2}\sqrt{1+\frac{1}{L^2}2M}\right)$$
(51)
which differs from the expression obtained using background subtraction methods .

For general values of the parameters, however, we cannot analytically integrate (46) exactly, and so we resort to numerical integration. To do this entails several restrictions on the parameters. First, the Kerr-AdS solution is defined only for $`L>A`$. Furthermore, since the quasilocal surface must be outside of the horizon, $`r_+/r`$ must be real and less than unity. Note that there is no longer a restriction on the sign of the induced Ricci scalar. These criteria yield this fact that if one choose two of the three parameters $`M`$ , $`L`$ and $`A`$, then the allowed values of the third parameter should obeys the following equations:

$`\text{for given values of }A\text{ and }L,\text{ }M_{\text{crit}}M{\displaystyle \frac{(1+A^2)(1+L^2)}{2L^2}},\text{ if }2M>(1+A^2),`$
$`\text{for given values of }A\text{ and }M,\text{ }L_{\text{crit}}L\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{(1+A^2)}{2M(1+A^2)}}}\text{, if }2M>(1+A^2)\text{ },`$ (52)
$`\text{for given values of }M\text{ and }L,\text{ }\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2ML^2}{1+L^2}}1}AA_{\text{crit}}\text{ if }2M>(1+L^2),`$
where $`L_{\text{crit}}=\frac{l_{\text{crit}}}{R},`$ $`A_{\text{crit}}=\frac{a_{\text{crit}}}{R},`$ and $`M_{\text{crit}}=\frac{m_{\text{crit}}}{R}`$ given by (20). For $`M0.5`$ and $`2M<1+A^2`$ there is no upper bound for $`L,`$ and for $`2M<(1+L^2),`$ the lower bound for $`A`$ is zero.

In the next four figures we plot the quasilocal energy as a function of $`A`$ and $`M`$. The $`A`$-dependence of the energy is given in Figs. 14 and 15. We see that for small values of $`L`$ ($`L1`$) the energy is a slowly increasing function of $`A.`$ For larger values of $`L,`$ as in the case of Kerr metric, for $`M<0.5`$ the energy decreases as $`A`$ increases.

Figures 16 and 17 show the $`M`$-dependence and $`L`$-dependence of the energy. For large values of $`L`$ the energy is asymptotic to a linear function of $`L`$ . This is due to the fact that the counterterm used for Kerr-AdS is proportional to $`L`$ for large values of $`L`$ .

As in the case of Kerr metric we consider the quasilocal conserved charges of the Kerr-AdS metric which are the mass and $`\phi `$ component of angular momentum of the system defined in eqns. (16,17). The $`\phi `$ component of angular momentum due to the counterterm is zero and one can evaluate the total angular momentum as

$$J_\phi =am(1\frac{a^2}{l^2})^2,$$
(53)
which is therefore valid for any quasilocal surface of fixed $`r=R`$, and yields the angular momentum of the Kerr metric as $`l`$ goes to infinity.

The total mass of the system, $``$, is somewhat more complicated to evaluate. For $`R=r_+`$ it is

$$\left(r_+\right)=\frac{a^2}{2r_+}(1+\frac{r_+^2}{l^2})(1\frac{a^2}{l^2})^2,$$
(54)
where we have used the normalized Killing vector $`\zeta ^a=(/t)^a/`$ $`\mathrm{\Xi }`$ instead of $`(/t)^a`$ in Eq. (16) so that the conserved quantities at infinity generate the $`SO(3,2)`$ algebra, in agreement with the conventions of Ref. . The mass $``$ as $`r`$ goes to infinity then becomes

$$_{\mathrm{}}=\frac{m}{\mathrm{\Xi }^2},$$
(55)
which differs from that of eq.(21) by this normalization factor. The $`A`$ and $`M`$-dependence of $``$ are illustrated in Figs. 18 and 19.

Adopting the same stance as for the Kerr black hole, we express the energy as a function of $`R,`$ $`J`$ and $`S`$. Noting that the entropy is $`S=\frac{\pi }{\mathrm{\Xi }}(r_+^2+a^2)`$, the temperature can be written as

$$T=\left(\frac{E}{S}\right)_{J,R}=\left(\frac{E}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)_{J,R}\left(\frac{S}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)_{J,R}^1=\frac{\kappa _+}{2\pi R}\left(\frac{E}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)_{R,J}$$
(56)
where $`\kappa _+`$ is the surface gravity at the event horizon

$$\kappa _+=\frac{3r_+^4+r_+^2(a^2+l^2)a^2l^2}{2l^2r_+(r_+^2+a^2)}.$$
(57)
and $`M_{\mathrm{}}=_{\mathrm{}}/R`$.

As for the Kerr case, the temperature must be computed numerically. We find (fig. 20) that for small values of $`M`$ the temperature is a weakly decreasing function of $`A`$ , and (similar to the Kerr case) it decreases rapidly as $`A`$ approaches its maximum allowed value. As $`M`$ increases, the $`A`$-dependence of $`T`$ becomes more relevant. The $`L`$-dependence of the temperature can be seen from fig. 21. Note that the value of $`T`$ due to the counterterm is very small compared to its value due to the boundary term. In contradistinction to the energy, we find that $`T`$ is an initially increasing function of $`L`$ for small $`M`$. For l$`\mathrm{arg}`$e values of $`L`$ ($`L>100`$) the change in $`T`$ due to the boundary term is negligible and $`T`$ increases as $`L`$ increases. The $`M`$-dependence of $`T`$ is plotted in 22.

In figure 23 we plot the $`M`$dependence of $`(\frac{T}{M})_{J,R}.`$ Again this figure is in consistent with that of Kerr case, and shows that for $`A=0.05`$, $`T(M,J,R)`$ has a maximum at $`A0.078`$ and a minimum at $`A0.25.`$ We find for small values of $`A`$ a single stable phase consisting of a small black hole. As the temperature increases, a second stable phase emerges consisting of a large black hole, along with an intermediate-mass unstable phase. This latter phase coalesces with the small black hole at an even larger temperature, beyond which there exists only the single stable large black hole phase. As $`A`$ increases the small and unstable phases are present for continually smaller temperature ranges. They eventually vanish for $`A`$ sufficiently large, leaving only the single large black hole phase. The heat capacity at constant surface area $`4\pi R^2`$ can be evaluated numerically, and the results, plotted as functions of $`A`$ and $`M`$, are shown in Figs. 24 and 25.

The stability analysis for these black holes is in qualitative agreement with that of Caldarelli et. al. , who recently performed a thorough analysis of the thermodynamic properties of Kerr-Newman AdS black holes in the $`R\mathrm{}`$ limit. However they computed a generalization of the Smarr formula for the AdS case in terms of $`_{\mathrm{}}`$, whereas we are considering the quasilocal energy $`E`$ in (46) as a function of $`R`$, $`S`$, and $`J`$. As a consequence the temperature they derive does not redshift to zero in the large-$`R`$ limit, unlike the expression in (56) which does, although the explicit form differs from that of the Tolman factor due to the quasilocal surface not being an isotherm when $`J0`$.

The angular velocity can be written as:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\left(\frac{E}{J}\right)_{S,R}=\left(\frac{E}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)_{S,R}\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{}}}{J}\right)_{S,R}=\mathrm{\Omega }_E\frac{1}{R}\left(\frac{E}{M_{\mathrm{}}}\right)_{S,R}$$
(58)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_E`$ is the angular velocity of the Einstein universe:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_E=\frac{a(1+\frac{r_+^2}{l^2})}{r_+^2+a^2}=\mathrm{\Omega }_H\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{}}$$
(59)
with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_H=a(1a^2/L^2)/(r_+^2+a^2)`$ the angular velocity of the hole at event horizon, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{}}=a/l^2`$ is the angular velocity at infinity. As $`R\mathrm{}`$, $`(E/M_{\mathrm{}})_{S,R}1`$, and the results of Ref.  are recovered. The $`A`$ dependence of the angular velocity can be seen from 26. As in the Kerr case, we find that $`(E/M_{\mathrm{}})_{S,R}`$ is not positive once $`M`$ is sufficiently large. Again, although the numerical computation required to extrapolate the curve for $`M=1`$ is more intense than the computational power we have available, we have checked explicitly that $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ vanishes for small $`A`$ in this case.

## 5 2+1 BTZ Black Hole

We can analyze the (2+1)-dimensional axially symmetric black hole solution of Einstein equation with a negative cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1/l^2`$ obtained by Banados et.al. using methods similar to those given above. Written in stationary coordinates the BTZ metric is

$$ds^2=N^2(r)dt^2+f^2(r)dr^2+r^2[V^\varphi (r)dt+d\varphi ]^2,$$
(60)
with

$$N^2(r)=f^2(r)=m+\left(\frac{r}{l}\right)^2+\left(\frac{j}{2r}\right)^2,\text{ }V^\varphi (r)=\frac{j}{2r^2}.\text{ }.$$
(61)
The action becomes

$$I=\frac{1}{8\pi }\{_{}d^4x\sqrt{\gamma }\left(2\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)+2_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\mathrm{\Theta }\frac{2}{l}_{}d^3x\sqrt{\gamma }\},$$
(62)
where we drop the counterterm corresponding to the induced Ricci scalar since it makes no contribution at infinity in (2+1) dimensions. The analogue of eq. (45) is

$$Q^{ij}=\frac{\sqrt{\gamma }}{2\pi }(\frac{1}{l}\gamma ^{ij}).$$
(63)
from which it is easy to show that the energy is

$$E=2\left(\frac{r}{l}\sqrt{m+\frac{r^2}{l^2}+\frac{j^2}{r^2}}\right).$$
(64)
This expression is identical to the one given in Ref. , in which the reference spacetime was taken to be that of a zero-mass black hole. We see here that the counterterm prescription at arbitrary $`r`$ is equivalent to this choice of spacetime background, and so all of the results of Ref.  will hold.

## 6 Closing Remarks

Our investigations of the boundary-induced counterterm prescription (4) at finite distances has allowed us to obtain a number of interesting results, which we recapitulate here.

We have been able to compute for the first time the energy, conserved mass, and angular momentum quasilocally for arbitrary values of the parameters of the Kerr and Kerr-AdS solutions, apart from the mild reality restrictions (33) and (52). These quasilocal quantities are intrinsically calculable at fixed $`r=R`$ without any reference to a background spacetime, a marked improvement over the methods given in Ref. , which were necessarily restricted to small values of the rotation parameter. We recovered these results, and were further able to show that the conjecture that $`E\left(r_+\right)=2M_i`$ (where $`M_i`$ is the irreducible mass of the Kerr black hole) was not correct, but instead was valid only for small $`A`$. We also found that quasilocal angular momentum equals its value at infinity at any fixed value $`r=R`$. The remarkable result holds because the counterterms integrate to zero, and not because they identically vanish.

We found that the entropy $`S`$ and angular momentum $`J`$ were not given by surface integrals over quasilocal boundary data, but rather were constants dependent on the parameters $`a,m`$ (and $`l`$) of the black hole. We therefore chose to regard the interior of the quasilocal surface as a thermodynamic system whose energy $`E`$ was a function of $`S`$ and $`J`$. A stability analysis yielded results that were in qualitative agreement with previous investigations carried out for either the non-rotating case , or at infinity . This stability analysis is, of course, local, and phase transitions to other spacetimes of lower free energy might exist. For the BTZ black hole the boundary countermterm turned out to be formally identical to a contribution from a reference spacetime of zero mass , and so the thermodynamics was identical in the two cases. It would be interesting to repeat these investigations for a different choice of quasilocal boundary, such as an isotherm.

The counterterm (4) reduces to the two cases given in eqs. (22) and (43) the large-$`l`$ and $`𝒪\left(l\right)`$ limits respectively. These two regimes are quite distinct except when the boundary curvature scalar $`(\gamma )1/l`$ , at which point one might expect that other boundary curvature invariants besides the minimal number we have considered here would be relevant. However we have not found it necessary to include such terms.

Indeed, boundary counterterms evidently have a robust degree of applicability, going well beyond that originally proposed from their origins in the AdS/CFT correspondence conjecture. In some ways this is not too surprising, since one need have no a-priori knowledge of the conjecture to introduce such terms. However we have found the somewhat unexpected result that inclusion of the minimal number of intrinsic boundary terms needed to make quantities well defined at infinity is sufficient to compute the thermodynamics of both asymptotically flat and asymptotically AdS black holes for virtually all possible values of the rotation parameter and cosmological constant that leave the quasilocal boundary well defined. This goes well beyond what is possible with background subtraction methods, and perhaps suggests that a deeper physical meaning be ascribed to such terms.

Acknowledgments

M.H.D. is grateful for the hospitality of the Department. of Physics of Waterloo University, where this work was performed, and for partial support from the Research council of Shiraz University of Iran. We would like to thank I. Booth for interesting correspondence. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.