Gravitational statistical mechanics: a model

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/18/23/309MaRDI QIDQ4328751zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Seth Major, Kevin L. Setter

Publication date 29 April 2002

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0101031

zbMATH Keywords

Hamiltonianspin networksgravitational statistical mechanics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Interacting particle systems in time-dependent statistical mechanics (82C22) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45)

Abstract: Using the quantum Hamiltonian for a gravitational system with boundary, we find the partition function and derive the resulting thermodynamics. The Hamiltonian is the boundary term required by functional differentiability of the action for Lorentzian general relativity. In this model, states of quantum geometry are represented by spin networks. We show that the statistical mechanics of the model reduces to that of a simple non-interacting gas of particles with spin. Using both canonical and grand canonical descriptions, we investigate two temperature regimes determined by the fundamental constant in the theory, m. In the high temperature limit (kT > m), the model is thermodynamically stable. For low temperatures (kT < m) and for macroscopic areas of the bounding surface, the entropy is proportional to area (with logarithmic correction), providing a simple derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking result. By comparing our results to known semiclassical relations we are able to fix the fundamental scale. Also in the low temperature, macroscopic limit, the quantum geometry on the boundary forms a `condensate' in the lowest energy level (j=1/2).

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(8)

• Tsallis' statistics for long range interactions: gravity
• Gravity analog model of non-equilibrium thermodynamics
• Statistical Mechanics of Infinite Gravitating Systems
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 880696 (Why is no real title available?)
• Energy spectrum of a quantum spacetime with boundary
• A comment or two on holographic dark energy
• Statistical properties of classical gravitating particles in (2+1) dimensions
• Logarithmic correction to the brane equation in topological Reissner-Nordström de Sitter space

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