6533b834fe1ef96bd129e1ac

RESEARCH PRODUCT

How to interpret black hole entropy?

J. MakelaP. Repo

subject

Physics::General PhysicsGeneral Relativity and Quantum CosmologyAstrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical PhenomenaFOS: Physical sciencesGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

description

We consider a possibility that the entropy of a Schwarzschild black hole has two different interpretations: The black hole entropy can be understood either as an outcome of a huge degeneracy in the mass eigenstates of the hole, or as a consequence of the fact that the interior region of black hole spacetime is separated from the exterior region by a horizon. In the latter case, no degeneracy in the mass eigenstates needs to be assumed. Our investigation is based on calculations performed with Lorentzian partition functions obtained for a whole maximally extended Schwarzschild spacetime, and for its right-hand-side exterior region. To check the correctness of our analysis we reproduce, in the leading order approximation, the Bekenstein--Hawking entropy of the Schwarzschild black hole.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
1998-12-21
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9812075