Black Hole Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

2008/07/28 by S. Carlip, Steven Carlip · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #gr-qc

paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-88460-6_3

published as Lect.Notes Phys.769:89-123,2009 · 35 pages, Springer macros; for the Proceedings of the 4th Aegean Summer School on Black Holes

arxiv created 2008/07/28 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

We have known for more than thirty years that black holes behave as thermodynamic systems, radiating as black bodies with characteristic temperatures and entropies. This behavior is not only interesting in its own right; it could also, through a statistical mechanical description, cast light on some of the deep problems of quantizing gravity. In these lectures, I review what we currently know about black hole thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, suggest a rather speculative "universal" characterization of the underlying states, and describe some key open questions.

Citations

• Generalized Hamiltonian Dynamics
• Quantum Fields in Curved Space
• Statistical-Mechanical Theory of Irreversible Processes. I. General Theory and Simple Applications to Magnetic and Conduction Problems
• 2 + 1 dimensional gravity as an exactly soluble system
• The four laws of black hole mechanics
• Entropy and Area
• The holographic principle
• Central charges in the canonical realization of asymptotic symmetries: An example from three dimensional gravity
• Particle creation by black holes
• Holographic Derivation of Entanglement Entropy from AdS/CFT
• Hawking Radiation as Tunneling
• Microscopic Origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking Entropy
• The World as a Hologram
• The fuzzball proposal for black holes: an elementary review
• The Large N Limit of Superconformal Field Theories and Supergravity

Cited by

• Black Hole Thermodynamics