Nonsupersymmetric attractors

We consider theories with gravity, gauge fields and scalars in four-dimensional asymptotically flat space-time. By studying the equations of motion directly we show that the attractor mechanism can work for nonsupersymmetric extremal black holes. Two conditions are sufficient for this, they are conveniently stated in terms of an effective potential involving the scalars and the charges carried by the black hole. Our analysis applies to black holes in theories with N <= 1 supersymmetry, as well as nonsupersymmetric black holes in theories with N=2 supersymmetry. Similar results are also obtained for extremal black holes in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space and in higher dimensions.