Journal
FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS
Volume 32, Issue 12, Pages 1877-1889Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1023/A:1022318700787
Keywords
entropy; horizons; de Sitter space; cosmological constant; black holes; thermodynamics
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Jacob Bekenstein's identification of black hole event horizon area with entropy proved to be a landmark in theoretical physics. In this paper we trace the subsequent development of the resulting generalized second law of thermodynamics (GSL), especially its extension to incorporate cosmological event horizons. In spite of the fact that cosmological horizons do not generally have well-defined thermal properties, we find that the GSL is satisfied for a wide range of models. We explore in particular the case of an asymptotically de Sitter universe filled with a gas of small black holes as a means of casting light on the relative entropic worth of black hole versus cosmological horizon area. We present some numerical solutions of the generalized total entropy as a function of time for certain cosmological models, in all cases confirming the validity of the GSL.
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