English

Noether charges and black hole mechanics in Einstein-aether theory

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2009-11-11 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

The Noether charge method for defining the Hamiltonian of a diffeomorphism-invariant field theory is applied to "Einstein-aether" theory, in which gravity couples to a dynamical, timelike, unit-norm vector field. Using the method, expressions are obtained for the total energy, momentum, and angular momentum of an Einstein-aether space-time. The method is also used to discuss the mechanics of Einstein-aether black holes. The derivation of Wald, and Iyer and Wald, of the first law of black hole thermodynamics fails for this theory, because the unit vector is necessarily singular at the bifurcation surface of the Killing horizon. A general identity relating variations of energy and angular momentum to a surface integral at the horizon is obtained, but a thermodynamic interpretation, including a definitive expression for the black hole entropy, is not found.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0509121,
  title  = {Noether charges and black hole mechanics in Einstein-aether theory},
  author = {Brendan Z. Foster},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0509121},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

14 pages; v2: minor comments added

R2 v1 2026-07-22T12:43:40.206Z