Action and free energy for black hole topologies

✍ Scribed by James W. York

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 930 KB
• Volume: 158
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-4371
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-4371(89)90540-2

✦ Synopsis

The gravitational fields of black holes have a thermal interpretation. Thc static cases correspond to equilibrium, so that the imaginary time or Euclidean method is appropriate. The boundary data required fo~ the Euclidean action coincide with those that specify a canonical ensemble. Evaluation of this action for a finite region in a class of geometries that includes the classical black ',,ete solutions, with the constraints or initial value equations taken into account, produces a "h~auced" action and an associated free energy. The reduced action can have locally stable and unstable stationary points or none. In certain cases there arc globally stable configurations. Their properties make it possible to understand black holes in the canonical ensemble, which was not possible in the original formulation of black hole thermodynamics. Thermodynamic reasoning in situationt, where gravity is important must be altered to fit the new point of view.