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The Statistical Mechanics of Horizons and Black Hole Thermodynamics

S. Carlip
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Abstract

Although we know that black holes are characterized by a temperature and an entropy, we do not yet have a satisfactory microscopic ``statistical mechanical'' explanation for black hole thermodynamics. I describe a new approach that attributes the thermodynamic properties to ``would-be gauge'' degrees of freedom that become dynamical on the horizon. For the (2+1)-dimensional black hole, this approach gives the correct entropy. (Talk given at the Pacific Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology, Seoul, February 1996.)

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S. Carlip. 1996-03-26. The Statistical Mechanics of Horizons and Black Hole Thermodynamics. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5812-1_5

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