THERMODYNAMIC ROUTE TO FIELD EQUATIONS

IN GRAVITY
Sudipta Sarkar

Inter University Centre for Astronomy and

Astrophysics.

Bekenstein (1973): Black holes hide information

they must have non zero
entropy which scales as area.
Hawking (1975): Black holes radiate like a black
body.

=c 3
Temp: T =
8 k BGM
Laws of BH mechanics

GRAVITY

4 k B c 3 M 2 k B A
Entropy: S =
= 2
G=
4l p

Laws of thermodynamics

THERMODYNAMICS

Gravity is a theory of space time structure.

Quantum Theory of gravity: Microscopic Description of Space time
Statistical Mechanics of space time
In that case, is it possible to interpret classical gravity as the
thermodynamic, long wavelength limit of the underlying
microscopic structure.
Hence, Classical gravity in this picture is a kind of emergent
phenomenon.

Thermodynamic route to gravity:

Q. Is it possible to provide a proper meaningful
thermodynamic interpretation of the field equations
for gravity?

A. Yes.
T Jacobson ( Prl, 1995), T Padmanabhan (CQG, 2004)
One can obtain Einsteins field equations as thermodynamic
identity .

Spherically symmetric space time:

ds 2 = f (r )dt 2

T =T
r
r

t
t

1
dr 2 r 2 d 2
f (r )

and

T =T

Horizon is obtained from: f(r = a) = 0

Einsteins equations:
8 G
8 G
0
2
r
2
r f (r) - (1 - f ) =
T
r
=
T
r
0
r
c4
c4

On horizon ( r = a ) : f (a) = 0

Let us assume, under any arbitrary process the radius of the

horizon changes from a to a + da.
Under such a displacement of the horizon:
1 c 4 da
=c f (a) c3 1
4 3
r
2
d 4 a = Tr d
a
4
G= 4
2 G
3

TdS = dE + PdV

The Solution of the field equation for gravity is a thermodynamic

equilibrium state of the underline quantum microstructure..
Solution with li + dli ( Black hole of mass M + dM )

Einsteins Equations: TdS = dE + PdV

Solution of Einstein equation with

a horizon characterized by parameters li
( Black hole of mass M )

Questions:
1. Is this a special feature of Einstein Gravity ?

2. If we include quantum corrections to Einstein-Hilbert

action functional, will this thermodynamic interpretation
remain valid or not?
3. What will happen if one goes beyond spherical symmetry?

Lanczos-Lovelock Gravity:
Basic inputs:
1. General Covariance
2. Quasi linearity of field equations.
(D)
m

1 m a1a2 ...a2 m b1b2

a 2 m 1a 2 m
2 b1b2 ...b2 m Ra1a2 ...Rb2 m 1b2 m
=
16
Totally anti-symmetric in
Both set of indices.

For m-th order Lovelock term to contribute: D 2m+1

m=1 gives Einstein Hilbert action:

m = 2, produces gauss bonnet action.
We concentrate first on m = 2 term namely the
Gauss-Bonnet term.
Motivation: Low energy limit of certain class of string
theory.
The full action is: A = d D X g 1 ( R + L ) + A
GB
m
16

LGB = R 2 4 R ab Rab + R abcd Rabcd

Field equation:

Gab + H ab = 8 Tab
Equations of motion are linear in 2nd derivative of metric
So, initial value problem is well defined.
Consider spherically symmetric solutions:
1

ds = f (r )dt + f (r )dr + r d
2

2
D2

Black hole solutions are well studied in literature:

Jacobsion et. al. PRL (1993); Myres et. al . PRD (1998)

Field equation:

2 (a )a 2
af (a ) ( D 3) + 2 ( D 5) =
r
D2

= ( D 3)( D 4)
r

Tr
(r ) =
8

AD 2 D 2 D 2 2 ( D 2) AD 2 a D 3
d
a 1 +
2 d
1 + 2 = PdV
2 4
16
a
D 4 a

TdS = dE + PdV
AD 2 D 2 D 2 2
S=
a 1 +
2
4
D4 a

Matches
Exactly!!

( D 2) AD 2 a D 3
E=
1 + 2
16
a
General Lovelock case:
Equations of motions are:
a
b(m)

ai
(D)
=
g
L
g
m
ib
g
g

We will consider the near horizon metric in Rindler form:

2
dN
ds 2 = N 2 dt 2 + 2
+ AB dy A dy B
+ O( N )

Horizon is a (D-2) dimensional maximally symmetric

Hyper surface.

t
t (m)

m m a1a2 ...a2 m tb1

1 D
b2 m 1b2 m
2 tb1 ...b2 m Ra1a2 ...Ra2 m 1a2 m L( m )
=
16
2

1
G =R R
2
t
t

t
t

For general Lovelock gravity, WALD entropy is:

K

S = 4 cm d D 2 x LDm12
m =1

Manipulate the field equation evaluated on the horizon to

obtain:

k
( D 2)
D2
d 4 mcm Lm 1 d y
2 m =1

H
2m
k

1
D (2 m +1)
= PdV + d cm
AD 2 a
(D j)

j =2
m =1 16

This is of the form TdS = dE + PdV if:

K

S = 4 cm d
m =1

D2

x L

D 2
m 1

2m
1
E = cm
AD 2 a D (2 m +1) ( D j )
16
m =1
j =2
k

Again these matches

exactly!!

The thermodynamic interpretation of filed equations for

gravity holds even in the case of string motivated semi
classical Lagrangians and therefore points towards a
deeper principle.

Going beyond spherical symmetry:

Consider stationary axis-symmetric spacetime like
Kerr-Newman Solution.

ds 2 =
+

sin 2

(dt a sin 2 d ) 2 +

(adt (r 2 + a 2 )d ) 2

2
2

dr 2 + 2 d 2

Outer horizon is a stationary 2 surface:

r = R = M + (M2 a2 Q2)1/2
The intrinsic geometry is not spherical.
Near horizon Field equation can be cast into:

TdS = dM WH dJ F dQ
This is also true for time dependent evolving horizons.
All these points to the fact that the thermodynamic
interpretation of the field equations are quite generic.

Summery:
1. The metric theory of gravity can be cast into a thermodynamic
interpretation at least in the presence of a space time horizon.
2. Such a interpretation is quite generic and holds true even for
a class of lagrangians namely Lovelock type which gives
quasi linear equations . But, one can show that, this is not
valid for a general f (R) type of Lagrangians. This suggest
a relation between equilibrium space time thermodynamics
and quasi linearity.
3. If these approaches has any grain of truth, gravity is an emergent
phenomenon of the underlying microstructure as the elasticity
of solids.

References:
Thermodynamic route to Field equations in Lanczos-Lovelock
Gravity.
Aseem Paranjape, Sudipta Sarkar, T. Padmanabhan
Phys. Rev. D, 74, 104015 (2006), [hep-th/0607240].

Einsteins equations as a thermodynamic identity: The cases of

stationary axisymmetric horizons and evolving spherically
symmetric horizons.
Dawood Kothawala, Sudipta Sarkar, T. Padmanabhan.
Phys. Lett . B, 652, 338, (2007), [gr- qc/0701002].