Related papers: The double doors of the horizon
Black holes are thermodynamic objects, but despite recent progress, the ultimate statistical mechanical origin of black hole temperature and entropy remains mysterious. Here I summarize an approach in which the entropy is viewed as arising…
Almost all of the entropy in the universe is in the form of Bekenstein--Hawking (BH) entropy of super-massive black holes. This entropy, if it satisfies Boltzmann's equation $S=\log{\cal N}$, hence represents almost all the accessible phase…
Some basic features of black-hole statistical mechanics are investigated, assuming that black holes respect the principles of quantum mechanics. Care is needed in defining an entropy S_bh corresponding to the number of microstates of a…
A black hole considered as a part of a thermodynamical system possesses the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S_H =A_H /(4l_{\mbox{\scriptsize{P}}}^2)$, where $A_H$ is the area of a black hole surface and $l_{\,\mbox{\scriptsize{P}}}$ is the…
In the talk different definitions of the black hole entropy are discussed and compared. It is shown that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S^{BH}$ (defined by the response of the free energy of a system containing a black hole on the change…
Although we have convincing evidence that a black hole bears an entropy proportional to its surface (horizon) area, the ``statistical mechanical'' explanation of this entropy remains unknown. Two basic questions in this connection are: what…
The basic assumption of the induced gravity approach is that Einstein theory is an effective, low energy-form of a quantum theory of constituents. In this approach the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S^{BH} of a black hole can be interpreted as…
To ask a question about a black hole in quantum gravity, one must restrict initial or boundary data to ensure that a black hole is actually present. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and probably a much wider class of theories, I show…
The statistical-mechanical origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S^{BH}$ in the induced gravity is discussed. In the framework of the induced gravity models the Einstein action arises as the low energy limit of the effective action of…
The concept of black hole entropy is one of the most important enigmas of theoretical physics. It relates thermodynamics to gravity and allows substantial hints toward a quantum theory of gravitation. Although Bekenstein conjecture…
Black hole thermodynamics is the area of study that seeks to reconcile the laws of thermodynamics with the existence of black hole event horizons. Here we calculate the entropy corresponding to the interior of a Schwarzschild black hole for…
To ask a question about a black hole in quantum gravity, one must restrict initial or boundary data to ensure that a black hole is actually present. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and probably a much wider class of theories as well,…
The thermodynamical one-loop entropy $S^{TD}$ of a two-dimensional black hole in thermal equilibrium with the massless quantum gas is calculated. It is shown that $S^{TD}$ includes the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, evaluated for the quantum…
Black holes behave as thermodynamic systems, and a central task of any quantum theory of gravity is to explain these thermal properties. A statistical mechanical description of black hole entropy once seemed remote, but today we suffer an…
The entropy increases enormously when a star collapses into a black hole. This entropy increase is interpreted as the decrease of the temperature due to the increase of the volume. Through these investigation the microscopic states of the…
Statistical mechanics explains thermodynamics in terms of (quantum) mechanics by equating the entropy of a microstate of a closed system with the logarithm of the number of microstates in the macrostate to which it belongs, but the question…
To derive black hole thermodynamics in any quantum theory of gravity, one must introduce constraints that ensure that a black hole is actually present. For a large class of black holes, the imposition of such ``horizon constraints'' allows…
The standard approach of counting the number of eigenmodes of $N$ scalar fields near the horizon is used as a basis to provide a simple statistical mechanical derivation of the black hole entropy in two and four dimensions. The Bekenstein…
After recalling the definition of black holes, and reviewing their energetics and their classical thermodynamics, one expounds the conjecture of Bekenstein, attributing an entropy to black holes, and the calculation by Hawking of the…
We review aspects of the thermodynamics of black holes and in particular take into account the fact that the quantum entanglement between the degrees of freedom of a scalar field, traced inside the event horizon, can be the origin of black…