Abstract
The topological contribution of a Gauss-Bonnet term in four dimensions to black hole entropy opens up the possibility of a violation of the second law of thermodynamics in black hole mergers. We show, however, that the second law is not violated in the regime where Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet holds as an effective theory and black holes can be treated thermodynamically. For mergers of anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes, the second law appears to be violated even in Einstein gravity; we argue, however, that the second law holds when gravitational potential energy is taken into account.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 155007 |
Journal | Classical and Quantum Gravity |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 15 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 7 2014 |
Keywords
- AdS
- Gauss-Bonnet
- black hole
- entropy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)