Gravitation, Thermodynamics, and Quantum Theory

Abstract

During the past 30 years, research in general relativity has brought to light strong hints of a very deep and fundamental relationship between gravitation, thermodynamics, and quantum theory. The most striking indication of such a relationship comes from black hole thermodynamics, where it appears that certain laws of black hole mechanics are, in fact, simply the ordinary laws of thermodynamics applied to a system containing a black hole. This article will review the present status of black hole thermodynamics and will discuss some of the related unresolved issues concerning gravitation, thermodynamics, and quantum theory.

24 pages, plain latex, to appear in special ``Millennium Issue'' of Class. Quant. Grav

References in corpus (1)

• Quantum Geometry and Black Hole Entropy

Cited by in corpus (39)

• Quantum Information and Relativity Theory
• Relative entropy and the Bekenstein bound
• Hawking radiation, the Stefan-Boltzmann law, and unitarization
• A Stringy Cloak for a Classical Singularity
• The "physical process" version of the first law and the generalized second law for charged and rotating black holes
• The Many Definitions of a Black Hole
• Notes on Spacetime Thermodynamics and the Observer-dependence of Entropy
• Cosmological apparent and trapping horizons
• Black hole entropy in scalar-tensor and f(R) gravity: an overview
• Area law corrections from state counting and supergravity
• Naked Black Hole Firewalls
• Observers in Kerr spacetimes: the ergoregion on the equatorial plane
• Disclosing connections between black holes and naked singularities: Horizon remnants, Killing throats and bottlenecks
• Defining Entropy Bounds
• Origin of Hawking Radiation: Firewall or Atmosphere?
• Entropy, time irreversibility and Schroedinger equation in a primarily discrete space-time
• Optical geometry for gravitational collapse and Hawking radiation
• Does the third law of black hole thermodynamics really have a serious failure?
• Black Holes of a Minimal Size in String Gravity
• A few words on Entropy, Thermodynamics, and Horizons
• Wormhole Spaces: the Common Cause for the Black Hole Entropy-Area Law,the Holographic Principle and Quantum Entanglement
• Thermodynamic Geometry: Evolution, Correlation and Phase Transition
• Repulsive gravity effects in horizon formation. Horizon remnants in naked singularities
• Entropy: From Black Holes to Ordinary Systems
• On the metric bundles of axially symmetric spacetimes
• The effective Tolman temperature in curved spacetimes
• Modified Measures as an Effective Theory for Causal Fermion Systems
• On light surfaces in black hole thermodynamics
• Making two particle detectors in flat spacetime communicate quantumly
• A Short Essay on Quantum Black Holes and Underlying Noncommutative Quantized Space-Time
• Where Does Black Hole Entropy Lie? Some Remarks on Area-Entropy Law, Holographic Principle and Noncommutative Space-Time
• Classical Black Holes Are Hot
• How the Schwarzschild-de Sitter horizons remain in thermal equilibrium at vastly different temperatures
• On the Dynamics of Bianchi IX cosmological models
• Black Hole Entropy in General Relativity
• Black hole solutions of modified gravity theories
• Gravity from micro-equilibration
• Thermodynamic formulation of Cotton gravity in the Codazzi parametrization
• Phase transitions due to Euclidean gravity