Black plane solutions in four-dimensional spacetimes

The static, plane symmetric solutions and cylindrically symmetric solutions of Einstein-Maxwell equations with a negative cosmological constant are investigated. These black configurations are asymptotically anti-de Sitter-type not only in the transverse directions, but also in the membrane or string directions. Their causal structure is similar to that of Reissner-Nordstrom black holes, but their Hawking temperature goes with M(1/3), where M is the ADM mass density. We also discuss the static plane solutions in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity with a Liouville-type dilaton potential. The presence of the dilaton field changes drastically the structure of solutions. They are asymptotically ''anti-de Sitter-'' or ''de Sitter-type'' depending on the parameters in the theory.