Work

Second law violations in Lovelock gravity for black hole mergers

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: We study the classical second law of black hole thermodynamics, for Lovelock theories (other than general relativity), in arbitrary dimensions. Using the standard formula for black hole entropy, we construct scenarios involving the merger of two black holes in which the entropy instantaneously decreases. Our construction involves a Kaluza-Klein compactification down to a dimension in which one of the Lovelock terms is topological. We discuss some open issues in the definition of the second law which might be used to remove this entropy decrease.

Source: Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.83.124048

Authors: Sudipta Sarkar, Aron C. Wall

Institution: University of Maryland, College Park

Language: English

Topic: Black Holes and Theoretical Physics

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Science Foundation

Awards: Gravitation theory and black hole thermodynamics, Towards the Microscopic Structure of Space-Time