Thermodynamic Origin of the Null Energy Condition

Abstract

We derive the classical null energy condition, understood as a constraint on the Ricci tensor, from the second law of thermodynamics applied locally to Bekenstein-Hawking entropy associated with patches of null congruences. The derivation provides evidence that the null energy condition, which has usually been regarded as a condition on matter, is fundamentally a property of gravity.

11 pages

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• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Swampland: The Cosmologist's Handbook to the string-theoretical Swampland Programme
• Quantum-Gravitational Null Raychaudhuri Equation
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• Spacetime Instability and Quantum Gravity as Low Energy Effective Field Theory
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• Optical and Thermodynamic Properties of a Rotating Dyonic Black Hole Spacetime in $\mathcal{N}=2,U(1{)}^2$ gauged supergravity