Thermodynamics of (d+1)-dimensional NUT-charged AdS spacetimes

We consider the thermodynamic properties of (d + 1)-dimensional spacetimes with NUT charges. Such spacetimes are asymptotically locally anti-de Sitter (or flat), with non-trivial topology in their spatial sections, and can have fixed point sets of the Euclidean time symmetry that are either (d - 1)-dimensional (called "bolts") or of lower dimensionality (pure "NUTs"). We compute the free energy, conserved mass, and entropy for 4, 6, 8 and 10 dimensions for each, using both Nother charge methods and the AdS/CFT-inspired counterterm approach. We then generalize these results to arbitrary dimensionality. We find in 4k + 2 dimensions that there are no regions in parameter space in the pure NUT case for which the entropy and specific heat are both positive, and so all such spacetimes are thermodynamically unstable. For the pure NUT case in 4k dimensions a region of stability exists in parameter space that decreases in size with increasing dimensionality. All bolt cases have some region of parameter space for which thermodynamic stability can be realized. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.