×

Black holes and entropy. (English) Zbl 1369.83037

Summary: There are a number of similarities between black-hole physics and thermodynamics. Most striking is the similarity in the behaviors of black-hole area and entropy: both quantities tend to increase irreversibly. In this paper we make this similarity the basis of a thermodynamic approach to black-hole physics. After a brief review of the elements of the theory of information, we discuss black-hole physics from the point of view of information theory. We show that it is natural to introduce the concept of black-hole entropy as the measure of information about a black-hole interior that is inaccessible to an exterior observer. Considerations of simplicity and consistency and dimensional arguments indicate that the black-hole entropy is equal to the ratio of the black-hole area to the square of the Planck length times a dimensionless constant of order unity. A different approach, making use of the specific properties of Kerr black holes and of concepts from information theory, leads to the same conclusion and suggests a definite value for the constant. The physical content of the concept of black-hole entropy derives from the following generalized version of the second law: When common entropy goes down a black hole, the common entropy in the black-hole exterior plus the black-hole entropy never decreases. The validity of this version of the second law is supported by an argument from information theory as well as by several examples.

MSC:

83C57 Black holes
Full Text: DOI