Related papers: Entropy Defined, Entropy Increase and Decoherence …
The comparison of geometrical properties of black holes with classical thermodynamic variables reveals surprising parallels between the laws of black hole mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics. Since Hawking's discovery that black holes…
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…
Several results of black holes thermodynamics can be considered as firmly founded and formulated in a very general manner. From this starting point we analyse in which way these results may give us the opportunity to gain a better…
We argue that the statistical entropy relevant for the thermal interactions of a black hole with its surroundings is (the logarithm of) the number of quantum microstates of the hole which are distinguishable from the hole's exterior, and…
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 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…
Black holes exist all over our Universe, possessing a very wide range of masses. At the moment, they serve as a probe to test general relativity at astrophysical scales, but in the future they may also give us information about gravity at…
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…
A coarse-grained version of the effective action is used to study the thermodynamics of black holes, interpolating from largest to smallest masses. The physical parameter of the black hole are linked to the running couplings by…
A brief overview of the discovery that macroscopic black holes are thermodynamical systems is presented. They satisfy the laws of thermodynamics and are associated with a temperature and an entropy equal to one quarter of their horizon area…
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…
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…
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…
I review a new (and still tentative) approach to black hole thermodynamics that seeks to explain black hole entropy in terms of microscopic quantum gravitational boundary states induced on the black hole horizon.
We argue that a unitary description of the formation and evaporation of a black hole implies that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is the "entropy of a vacuum": the logarithm of the number of possible independent ways in which quantum field…
We show that the concept of entropy and the dynamics of gravitation provide the linchpin in a unified scheme to understand the physics of black hole computers, space-time foam, dark energy, dark matter and the phenomenon of turbulence. We…
Loop Gravity provides a microscopic derivation of Black Hole entropy. In this paper, I show that the microstates counted admit a semiclassical description in terms of shapes of a tessellated horizon. The counting of microstates and the…
Entropy plays a crucial role in characterization of information and entanglement, but it is not a scalar quantity and for many systems it is different for different relativistic observers. Loop quantum gravity predicts the…
Entropy of all systems that we understand well is proportional to their volumes except for black holes given by their horizon area. This makes the microstates of any quantum theory of gravity drastically different from the ordinary matter.…
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…