English

Horizon surface gravity as 2d geodesic expansion

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2008-11-26 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

The surface gravity of any Killing horizon, in any spacetime dimension, can be interpreted as a local, two-dimensional expansion rate seen by freely falling observers when they cross the horizon. Any two-dimensional congruence of geodesics invariant under the Killing flow can be used to define this expansion, provided that the observers have unit Killing energy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0806.1677,
  title  = {Horizon surface gravity as 2d geodesic expansion},
  author = {Ted Jacobson and Renaud Parentani},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0806.1677},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

7 pages; v2: 8 pages, derivation of (8) in section 3 streamlined, added new expression for the 2d expansion, minor editing

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:49:12.408Z