Generalized holographic equipartition for Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universes

Abstract

The novel idea that spatial expansion of our universe can be regarded as the consequence of the emergence of space was proposed by Padmanabhan. By using of the basic law governing the emergence, which Padmanabhan called holographic equipartition, he also arrives at the Friedmann equation in a flat universe. When generalized to other gravity theories, the holographic equipartition need to be generalized with an expression of $f(\Delta N,N_{sur})$. In this paper, we give general expressions of $f(\Delta N,N_{sur})$ for generalized holographic equipartition which can be used to derive the Friedmann equations of the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe with any spatial curvature in higher ($\hbox {n}+1$)-dimensional Einstein gravity, Gauss–Bonnet gravity and more general Lovelock gravity. The results support the viability of the perspective of holographic equipartition.