Related papers: The Limits of Information
Using a new generalized second law of thermodynamics, the information and entropy of a black hole and its accretion disk are analyzed respectively. We find the bound of the information channel width of a black hole, which is determined by…
These notes introduce basic aspects of black hole thermodynamics. I review the classical laws of black hole mechanics, give a brief introduction to the essential concepts of quantum field theory in curved spacetime, and derive the Unruh and…
Black holes emit thermal radiation (Hawking effect). If after black-hole evaporation nothing else were left, an arbitrary initial state would evolve into a thermal state (`information-loss problem'). Here it is argued that the whole…
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…
There would be a perfect correspondence between the laws of classical thermodynamics and black hole thermodynamics, except for the apparent failure of black hole thermodynamics to correspond to the Third Law. The classical Third Law of…
We analyze the thermodynamical behavior of black holes in closed finite boxes. First the black hole mass evolution is analyzed in an initially empty box. Using the conservation of the energy and the Hawking evaporation flux, we deduce a…
One of the remarkable features of black holes is that they possess a thermodynamic description, even though they do not appear to be statistical systems. We use self-gravitating magnetic monopole solutions as tools for understanding the…
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…
I give a fairly systematic and thorough presentation of the case for regarding black holes as thermodynamic systems in the fullest sense, aimed at students and non-specialists and not presuming advanced knowledge of quantum gravity. I pay…
I present a viewpoint on black hole thermodynamics according to which the entropy: derives from horizon "degrees of freedom"; is finite because the deep structure of spacetime is discrete; is "objective" thanks to the distinguished coarse…
We discuss and compare different definitions of the entropy of a black hole. In particular we show that the thermodynamical entropy defined by the response of the free energy of a black hole to the change of temperature does not coincide…
A deeper understanding of the thermal properties of black holes than we presently have depends to a large degree on obtaining a firmer grasp of the properties of the entropy. For such an understanding we must at least know the basic…
We investigate whether black holes can be defined without using event horizons. In particular we focus on the thermodynamic properties of event horizons and the alternative, locally defined horizons. We discuss the assumptions and…
It is a common belief now that the explanation of the microscopic origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of black holes should be available in quantum gravity theory, whatever this theory will finally look like. Calculations of the…
Based on a recent proposal for the volume inside a black hole, we calculate the entropy associated with this volume and show that such entropy is proportional to the surface area of the black hole. Together with the consideration of black…
The first and second laws of black hole thermodynamics are verified to emerge from a generic semiclassical theory of gravity for which a Hamiltonian can be defined. The first law is established for stationary spacetimes, and the second law…
We have shown the thermodynamic changes in a 2+1-dimensional rotating black hole when it absorbs a particle. The microscopic changes which the black hole undergoes are interpreted using the AdS/CFT correspondence. Using particle absorption…
The thermodynamical properties of dark energy are usually investigated with the equation of state $\omega =\omega_{0}+\omega_{1}z$. Recent observations show that our universe is accelerating, and the apparent horizon and the event horizon…
We study the thermodynamics of a shell of self-gravitating radiation, bounded by two spherical surfaces. This system provides a consistent model for a gravitating thermal reservoir for different solutions to vacuum Einstein equations in the…
These notes aim to provide an introduction to the basics of black hole thermodynamics. After explaining Bekenstein's original proposal that black holes have entropy, we discuss Hawking's discovery of black hole radiation, its analog for…