Abstract
Statistical mechanics of gravitational fields describing the black-hole topological sector, and the correspondence to thermodynamics, are considered. The Euclidean action is evaluated on the constraint hypersurface and a measure is obtained, resulting in a path-integral form of the canonical partition function. We obtain the usual black-hole entropy plus quantum corrections when the temperature and size of the system are appropriate. Under other conditions, we give evidence for the existence of a phase transition (change of topology).
- Received 6 July 1988
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.1336
©1988 American Physical Society