Essay: The Holography of Gravity Encoded in a Relation Between Entropy, Horizon Area, and Action for Gravity

Abstract

I provide a general proof of the conjecture that one can attribute an entropy to the area of any horizon. This is done by constructing a canonical ensemble of a subclass of spacetimes with a fixed value for the temperature T = β⁻¹ and evaluating the exact partition function Z(β). For spherically symmetric spacetimes with a horizon at r = a, the partition function has the generic form Z ∝ exp[S − β E], where S = (1/4)4π a ² and |E| = (a/2). Both S and E are determined entirely by the properties of the metric near the horizon. This analysis reproduces the conventional result for the black-hole spacetimes and provides a simple and consistent interpretation of entropy and energy for De Sitter spacetime. For the Rindler spacetime the entropy per unit transverse area turns out to be (1/4) while the energy is zero. Further, I show that the relationship between entropy and area allows one to construct the action for the gravitational field on the bulk and thus the full theory. In this sense, gravity is intrinsically holographic.