Thermogeometric phase transition in a unified framework

Using geomterothermodynamics (GTD), we investigate the phase transition of black hole in a metric independent way. We show that for any black hole, curvature scalar (of equilibrium state space geometry) is singular at the point where specific heat diverges. Previously such a result could only be shown by taking specific examples on a case by case basis. A different type of phase transition, where inverse specific heat diverges, is also studied within this framework. We show that in the latter case, metric ( of equilibrium state space geometry) is singular instead of curvature scalar. Since a metric singularity may be a coordinate artifact, we propose that GTD indicates that it is the singularity of specific heat and not inverse specific heat which indicates a phase transition of black holes. (C) 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.