2025/07/04 by R. Ferrari, Ferrari, Ricardo Bulcão Valente, Samuel Bueno Soltau +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Differential Geometry Research #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.03778
openalex publication_date 2025/07/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Between 1972 and 1975, Jacob Bekenstein proposed that black holes possess entropy proportional to their horizon area, and Stephen Hawking derived this relationship from semiclassical quantum field theory in curved spacetime, predicting thermal radiation from black holes. These developments established black hole thermodynamics as a formal framework connecting general relativity, quantum mechanics, and statistical physics. However, this synthesis rests on approximations whose validity remains unproven in regimes where quantum gravitational effects become important. This article provides a detailed overview of the historical development from 1972 to 1975 and surveys modern proposals, such as the holographic principle and gravitational path integrals. We highlight persistent theoretical challenges, including the information paradox, the trans-Planckian problem, backreaction effects, and the absence of experimental verification. The work concludes by identifying which aspects of black hole thermodynamics are well-established and which remain speculative or fundamentally incomplete.