The holographic principle

2002/03/31 by Raphael Bousso · 41 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.74.825

published as Rev.Mod.Phys.74:825-874,2002 · 52 pages, 10 figures, invited review for Rev. Mod. Phys; v2: reference added

arxiv created 2002/06/29 · openalex publication_date 2002/08/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

There is strong evidence that the area of any surface limits the information content of adjacent spacetime regions, at 1.4\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10⁶⁹ bits per square meter. This article reviews the developments that have led to the recognition of this entropy bound, placing special emphasis on the quantum properties of black holes. The construction of light sheets, which associate relevant spacetime regions to any given surface, is discussed in detail. This article explains how the bound is tested, and its validity is demonstrated in a wide range of examples. A universal relation between geometry and information is thus uncovered. It has yet to be explained. The holographic principle asserts that its origin must lie in the number of fundamental degrees of freedom involved in a unified description of spacetime and matter. It must be manifest in an underlying quantum theory of gravity. This article surveys some successes and challenges in implementing the holographic principle.

Citations

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• Black hole explosions?
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• The Thermodynamics of Black Holes
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• Perfect mirrors and the self-accelerating box paradox
• Matrix theory
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Cited by

• Reconstructing quintom from Ricci dark energy
• Drawing conformal diagrams for a fractal landscape
• Non-singular inflation with vacuum decay
• Is Holographic Entropy and Gravity the result of Quantum Mechanics?
• Cosmological imprint of the second law of thermodynamics
• Holographic framework for eternal inflation
• On perturbative field theory and twistor string theory
• Детальный анализ вероятности резкого увеличения скорости расширения Вселенной в результате распространения жизни во Вселенной в контексте гипотезы Acta Universi
• A COMMENTARY ON COSMOLOGICAL ENTROPY BOUNDS
• Inherent holography in fuzzy spaces and an N-tropic approach to the cosmological constant problem
• Black Hole Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
• AdS/CFT duality and the emergence of spacetime
• Locality in quantum gravity and string theory
• Modified entropic force
• Supernova constraints on a holographic dark energy model
• Evidence for a bound on the lifetime of de Sitter space
• Anatomy of a bounce
• Energy, entropy and the Ricci flow
• Sinks in the landscape, Boltzmann brains and the cosmological constant problem
• The Unruh effect and its applications
• THE HOLOGRAPHIC SCREEN AT LOW TEMPERATURES
• STATISTICAL ENTROPY OF THE SCHWARZSCHILD BLACK HOLE
• Holographic dark energy model from Ricci scalar curvature
• Complementarity in the multiverse
• On the statistical-mechanical meaning of the Bousso bound
• Bekenstein Entropy is String Entropy
• PURE STATES, MIXED STATES AND HAWKING PROBLEM IN GENERALIZED QUANTUM MECHANICS
• A comment on black hole entropy or does nature abhor a logarithm?
• Quantum Computation on the Edge of a Symmetry-Protected Topological Order
• A stringy correspondence principle in cosmology
• Physical Relativism as an Interpretation of Existence
• Entropy and entanglement in polymer quantization
• On entropy bounds and holography
• Indeterminacy of holographic quantum geometry
• Inflation without a beginning: A null boundary proposal
• Holography, UV/IR Relation, Causal Entropy Bound, and Dark Energy
• Quasi-Local Energy-Momentum and Angular Momentum in GR: A Review Article
• Holographic Principle and the Surface of Last Scatter
• Measurement of quantum fluctuations in geometry
• Holographic principle [wikipedia]
• Loop quantum gravity [wikipedia]