Statistical Mechanical Origin of the Entropy of a Rotating, Charged Black Hole

W. H. Zurek; Kip S. Thorne

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.2171

Statistical Mechanical Origin of the Entropy of a Rotating, Charged Black Hole

W. H. Zurek and Kip S. Thorne

Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2171 – Published 20 May 1985

Abstract

It is shown that the entropy of a rotating, charged black hole is, in senses made precise in the paper, (i) the logarithm of the number of quantum mechanically distinct ways that the hole could have been made, and (ii) the logarithm of the number of configurations that the hole's "atmosphere," as measured by stationary observers, could assume in the presence of its background noise of acceleration radiation. In addition, a proof is given of the generalized second law of thermodynamics.

Received 11 March 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.2171

Authors & Affiliations

W. H. Zurek

Theoretical Astrophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, and California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125

Kip S. Thorne

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, and Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106