Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: The membrane paradigm is the remarkable view that, to an external observer, a black hole appears to behave exactly like a dynamical fluid membrane, obeying such pre-relativistic equations as Ohm's law and the Navier-Stokes equation. It has traditionally been derived by manipulating the equations of motion. Here we provide an action formulation of this picture, clarifying what underlies the paradigm and simplifying the derivations. Within this framework, we derive previous membrane results, and extend them to dyonic black hole solutions. We discuss how it is that an action can produce dissipative equations. Using a Euclidean path integral, we show that familiar semi-classical thermodynamic properties of black holes also emerge from the membrane action. Finally, in a Hamiltonian description, we establish the validity of a minimum entropy production principle for black holes.
Authors: Maulik K. Parikh, Frank Wilczek
Institution: Princeton University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2170073733