Black-hole thermodynamics

Black-hole thermodynamics relates horizon geometry to thermodynamic laws, assigning temperature and entropy to a stationary black hole.

Black-hole energy extraction transfers part of a black hole's mass, charge, or rotational energy to its exterior. A reversible limiting process preserves the horizon area and saturates the maximum extraction permitted by the First law of black-hole mechanics and Hawking's area theorem.

The laws of black-hole mechanics relate surface gravity, horizon area, mass, angular momentum, and charge in close analogy with the laws of thermodynamics. Quantum theory identifies the analogy physically through Hawking temperature and Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.

The zeroth law states that the surface gravity is constant over a stationary Killing horizon under the standard field-equation and energy assumptions.

In units $G=\hslash =c=k_B=1$, a stationary black hole with surface gravity $\kappa$ has Hawking temperature $T_H=\kappa /(2\pi )$.

Near a nonextremal Euclidean horizon, the radial--time plane is smooth only when Euclidean time has period ${\beta }_H=4\pi /f^{\prime }(r_H)$. Any other period produces a conical singularity at the horizon.

On the side where V is positive, set $r-r_0=V^{\prime }(r_0){\rho }^2/4$. Its radial Euclidean metric becomes the displayed plane in polar coordinates. The would-be singularity is conical unless the angular variable $|V^{\prime }(r_0)|\tau /2$ has period exactly $2\pi$. This fixes $\beta =4\pi /|V^{\prime }(r_0)|$; a nontrivial integer multiple still has a cone excess at the tip.

For a normalized static metric $d{s}^2=-Vd{t}^2+d{r}^2/V+r^{2}d{\Omega }^2$ with a simple outer zero at $r_0$, set $b=V^{\prime }(r_0)>0$. The Wick rotation and $r-r_0=b{\rho }^2/4$ give $d{\rho }^2+(b\rho /2{)}^{2}d{t}_E^2$ to leading order, so smoothness fixes period $4\pi /b$. In an ingoing null chart, ${\nabla }_{k}k=(b/2)k$ on the future horizon; the outgoing chart gives the opposite sign on the past branch. The Hawking temperature is $b/(4\pi )=|\kappa |/(2\pi )$ and uses the time generator normalized at infinity.

For a Euclidean radial-time metric $C(r)(f(r)d{t}_E^2+d{r}^2/f(r))$, assume $f$ has a simple horizon zero and $C$ is smooth, finite and positive there. A proper radial coordinate $\rho =2\sqrt{C(r_H)(r-r_H)/f^{\prime }(r_H)}$ puts the leading metric in the form $d{\rho }^2+f^{\prime }(r_H{)}^2{\rho }^{2}d{t}_E^2/4$. Smoothness fixes the displayed period independently of $C(r_H)$. When the Lorentzian time is normalized at infinity, the period is the inverse Hawking temperature in natural units. A conformal factor singular at the horizon need not preserve this argument.

// Target: general-relativity.bigb

Hawking radiation is the approximately thermal flux seen at future infinity when outgoing quantum-field modes are traced backward through a collapsing black-hole geometry. The exponential near-horizon redshift produces nonzero Bogoliubov beta coefficients at temperature $T_H=\kappa /(2\pi )$.

In a collapse spacetime, choose the quantum field's incoming state to have no incoming particles at past null infinity and to be regular in freely falling coordinates near the forming event horizon. The late outgoing modes then have the Hawking temperature, while there is no incoming thermal bath. This collapse-state boundary condition differs from an equilibrium state on an eternal black hole. The Hawking exponential ray map and the thermal ratio of Hawking Bogoliubov coefficients determine the leading late-time particle spectrum; greybody factors describe scattering outside the event horizon.

Black-hole evaporation is mass loss through Hawking radiation. For a large isolated Schwarzschild black hole, the leading mass dependence is $dM/dt\propto -M^{-2}$ and the evaporation timescale is proportional to $M^3$. This semiclassical scaling cannot determine the endpoint when the curvature reaches quantum-gravitational scales.

For a large isolated Schwarzschild black hole with a fixed effective set of radiated species, Hawking radiation has $T\propto M^{-1}$ and luminosity $P=\alpha /M^2$ in natural units. Integrating $dM/dt=-\alpha /M^2$ gives the displayed law. A horizon-area blackbody radiation estimate gives $\alpha =1/(15360\pi )$; greybody factors and species change it. With mass-dependent $\alpha$, integrate $t={\int }_{M(t)}^{M_0}{m}^{2}dm/\alpha (m)$ instead. The semiclassical gravity approximation fails near Planck mass, so a formal zero of the cubic law does not settle the final state.

Approximate an isolated Schwarzschild black hole as emitting photon blackbody radiation from an area $16\pi G^2{M}^2/c^4$ at Hawking temperature $\hslash c^3/(8\pi G{k}_{B}M)$. The Stefan–Boltzmann law gives $P=\hslash c^6/(15360\pi G^2{M}^2)$. Integrating $c^{2}dM/dt=-P$ gives the displayed lifetime, about $2\times 10^{67}$ years for a solar mass. Greybody factors and additional emitted species modify the coefficient; the robust large-mass scaling is $M_0^3$, and the semiclassical calculation does not determine the final quantum-gravity endpoint.

// Target: general-relativity.bigb

The late outgoing rays from a nonextremal collapsing black hole have an exponential relation between a regular early affine null coordinate $U$ and late retarded time $u$. Logarithmic divergence of the tortoise coordinate at the horizon gives $U_H-U=A{e}^{-\kappa u}$ up to subleading terms. Backward propagation turns $e^{-i\omega u}$ into $(U_H-U{)}^{i\omega /\kappa }$; its positive- and negative-frequency Fourier parts give a thermal Bogoliubov transformation.

For the Hawking exponential ray map, regulated integrals ${\int }_0^{\infty }{x}^{ia}{e}^{-(ϵ\pm i{\omega }^{\prime })x}dx=\Gamma (1+ia)(ϵ\pm i{\omega }^{\prime }{)}^{-1-ia}$ have squared-modulus ratio $e^{-2\pi a}$ as $ϵ\downarrow 0$, where $a=\omega /\kappa$. Combining this with the canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformation gives the bosonic occupation $[e^{2\pi \omega /\kappa }-1{]}^{-1}$. Continuum modes require wave-packet normalization to interpret finite particle counts.

For a Schwarzschild black hole, a greybody factor is a mode's transmission probability through the exterior scattering potential. The spectrum of Hawking radiation at future null infinity is the thermal horizon occupation multiplied by this factor, with a sum over angular modes.

The black hole information paradox is the apparent conflict between unitary quantum evolution and the semiclassical prediction that complete black-hole evaporation leaves only thermal Hawking radiation. A resolution must explain how information is preserved or why one of the assumptions behind the conflict fails.

In units $G=\hslash =c=k_B=1$, a black hole of horizon area $A$ has entropy $S_{BH}=A/4$.

Changing the Euclidean time period away from its smooth value creates a curvature delta function at the horizon. Applying $(1-\beta {\partial }_{\beta })$ to the Euclidean gravitational partition function isolates this term and gives $S=A/(4G_N)$.

The Gibbons–Hawking–York boundary term makes the Einstein--Hilbert variational problem well posed when the induced boundary metric is fixed. It is the integral of the trace of the boundary's extrinsic curvature with the conventional normalization and sign.

For a nonrotating uncharged stationary black hole, the first law is $\delta M=\kappa \delta A/(8\pi )=T_H\delta S_{BH}$.

The physical-process first law derives the area change caused by a small flux of matter through an initially and finally stationary horizon. Linearized Null Raychaudhuri equation evolution converts the Killing-energy flux into $\Delta M=\kappa \Delta A/(8\pi )$.

For a small perturbation of a stationary horizon, the linearized Null Raychaudhuri equation gives $\delta {\theta }^{\prime }=-8\pi \delta T_{kk}$. With vanishing boundary term $[\lambda \delta \theta ]$, integration by parts gives $\delta A=8\pi \int \lambda \delta T_{kk}d\lambda d{A}_0$. Combining this with affine horizon-generator scaling converts area response to horizon Killing-energy flux.

For horizon generator $\xi =k+{\Omega }_{H}m$, a small matter flux into an initially and finally stationary rotating black hole satisfies

Under the null energy condition and the usual global assumptions excluding naked pathologies, the area of every cross-section of a future event horizon is nondecreasing toward the future. The Null Raychaudhuri equation and future completeness rule out negative expansion of its generators.

Hawking's area theorem states that the total area of classical future event horizons cannot decrease when the null energy condition and the required global assumptions hold. It is the geometric content of the second law of black-hole mechanics.

Two initially well-separated Schwarzschild black holes of mass $m$ each have total horizon area $32\pi G^2{m}^2/c^4$. If they merge into a Schwarzschild black hole, Hawking's area theorem gives final mass $M\ge \sqrt{2}m$. Conserved total energy then bounds escaped radiation by the displayed expression, or $1-1/\sqrt{2}$ of the initial rest energy. This is an upper bound under classical horizon and energy assumptions, not a proof that an actual merger can saturate it.

For future-complete generators of an event horizon, the null convergence condition and hypersurface orthogonality reduce the Null Raychaudhuri equation to ${\theta }^{\prime }\le -{\theta }^2/2$. If ${\theta }_0<0$, integration gives focusing within affine distance $2/|{\theta }_0|$. The null focusing theorem identifies this with a conjugate point to a spacelike surface. A null generator cannot remain on an achronal boundary beyond such a focal point, contradicting future completeness on the horizon. Thus $\theta \ge 0$, and $dA/d\lambda =\theta A\ge 0$ gives the second law of black-hole mechanics. New horizon generators may join toward the future at crease sets, adding area, but generators have no future endpoints on a regular event horizon under these assumptions.

// Target: quantum-field-theory.bigb

The third law of black-hole mechanics says that no finite physical process can reduce the surface gravity of a regular black-hole horizon to zero.

The generalized second law states that the sum of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the entropy of matter and radiation outside black holes does not decrease.