As the interaction between the black holes and highly energetic infalling charged matter receives quantum corrections, the basic laws of black hole mechanics have to be carefully rederived. Using the covariant phase space formalism, we generalize the first law of black hole mechanics, both “equilibrium state” and “physical process” versions, in the presence of nonlinear electrodynamics fields, defined by Lagrangians depending on both quadratic electromagnetic invariants, $F_{ab}{F}^{ab}$ and $F_{ab}\star F^{ab}$. Derivation of this law demands a specific treatment of the Lagrangian parameters, similar to embedding of the cosmological constant into thermodynamic context. Furthermore, we discuss the validity of energy conditions, several complementing proofs of the zeroth law of black hole electrodynamics, and some aspects of the recently generalized Smarr formula, its (non-)linearity and relation to the first law.

One of the long-standing problems is a quest for regular black hole solutions, in which a resolution of the spacetime singularity has been achieved by some physically reasonable, classical field, before one resorts to the quantum gravity. The prospect of using nonlinear electromagnetic fields for this goal has been limited by the Bronnikov’s no-go theorems, focused on Lagrangians depending on the electromagnetic invariant $F_{ab}{F}^{ab}$ only. We extend Bronnikov’s results by taking into account Lagrangians that depend on both electromagnetic invariants, $F_{ab}{F}^{ab}$ and $F_{ab}\star F^{ab}$, and prove that the tension between the Lagrangian’s Maxwellian weak field limit and boundedness of the curvature invariants persists in more general class of theories.

We present a direct, geometric derivation of the generalized Smarr formula for the stationary axially symmetric black holes with nonlinear electromagnetic fields. The additional term is proven to be proportional to the integral of the trace of the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor and can be written as a product of two conjugate variables. From the novel relation we can deduce all previously proposed forms of the generalized Smarr formula, which were derived only for the spherically symmetric black holes, and provide the lowest order quantum correction to the classical relation from the Euler–Heisenberg Lagrangian.

Matter fields do not necessarily have to share the symmetries with the spacetime they live in. When this happens, we speak of the symmetry inheritance of fields. In this paper we classify the obstructions of symmetry inheritance by the scalar fields, both real and complex, and look more closely at the special cases of stationary and axially symmetric spacetimes. Since the symmetry noninheritance is present in the scalar fields of boson stars and may enable the existence of the black hole scalar hair, our results narrow the possible classes of such solutions. Finally, we define and analyse the symmetry noninheritance contributions to the Komar mass and angular momentum of the black hole scalar hair.

We analyze the 3d free massive fermion theory coupled to external sources. The presence of a mass explicitly breaks parity invariance. We calculate two- and three-point functions of a gauge current and the energy momentum tensor and, for instance, obtain the well-known result that in the IR limit (but also in the UV one) we reconstruct the relevant CS action. We then couple the model to higher spin currents and explicitly work out the spin 3 case. In the UV limit we obtain an effective action which was proposed many years ago as a possible generalization of spin 3 CS action. In the IR limit we derive a different higher spin action. This analysis can evidently be generalized to higher spins. We also discuss the conservation and properties of the correlators we obtain in the intermediate steps of our derivation.