Inconsistencies of Tsallis Cosmology within Horizon Thermodynamics and Holographic Scenarios

Abstract

We investigate the cosmological implications of Tsallis entropy in two widely discussed frameworks: the Cai-Kim thermodynamic derivation of the Friedman equations and the Tsallis holographic dark energy (HDE) scenario, considering both the Hubble scale and the Granda-Oliveros (GO) cutoff as infrared regulators. In both cases, the dynamics introduce a nonextensivity parameter $\delta$, with the standard Bekenstein-Hawking entropy-area relation recovered for $\delta = 1$. While previous studies have suggested that only small deviations from extensivity are observationally allowed, typically requiring $|1 - \delta| \lesssim 10^{-3}$, here we go further and perform a systematic consistency analysis across the entire expansion history. We show that even mild departures from $\delta = 1$ lead to pathological behavior in the effective dark energy sector: its density can become negative or complex, its equation of state may diverge, or it can contribute an unacceptably large early-time fraction that spoils radiation domination and violates BBN and CMB constraints. Our results sharpen and unify earlier hints of tension, providing a clear physical interpretation in terms of corrections that grow uncontrollably with the expansion rate toward the past. We conclude that within both the Cai-Kim and HDE formulations, a viable cosmology emerges only in the extensive limit, effectively reducing the models to $\Lambda$CDM. More broadly, our findings emphasize the importance of dynamical consistency and cosmological viability tests, when assessing nonextensive entropy formalisms as potential frameworks for describing the Universe's dynamics.