1997/02/08 by S. Carlip, Steven Carlip · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Black hole (networking) #Black hole thermodynamics #Classical mechanics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) #Entropy (arrow of time) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Physics #Statistical mechanics #Statistical physics #Theoretical physics #Thermodynamics #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0920-5632(97)00348-4
published as Nucl.Phys.Proc.Suppl.57:8-12,1997 · 5 pages, LaTeX, uses espcrc2.sty; talk given at the Second Meeting on Constrained Dynamics and Quantum Gravity, Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, September 1996
arxiv created 1997/02/08 · openalex publication_date 1997/08/01 · arxiv updated 2010/04/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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 from ``would-be pure gauge'' degrees of freedom that become dynamical at the horizon. For the (2+1)-dimensional black hole, these degrees of freedom can be counted, and yield the correct Bekenstein-Hawking entropy; the corresponding problem in 3+1 dimensions remains open.