Abstract

We study charged AdS black hole solutions in five-dimensional Chern-Simons supergravity. The minimal supergroup containing such AdS(5) x U(1) configurations is the superunitary group SU(2, 2-N). For this model, we find analytic black hole solutions that asymptote to locally AdS(5) spacetime at the boundary. A solution can carry U(1) charge provided the spacetime torsion is non-vanishing. Thus, we analyze the most general configuration consistent with the local AdS(5) isometries in Riemann-Cartan space. The coupling of torsion in the action resembles that of the universal axion of string theory, and it is ultimately due to this field that the theory acquires propagating degrees of freedom. Through a careful analysis of the canonical structure the local degrees of freedom of the theory are identified in the static symmetric sector of phase space.