Entropy and area

Journal Article · Mon Aug 02 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.666· OSTI ID:6217393

Srednicki, M ^[1]

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1. Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States) Theoretical Physics Group, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

The ground-state density matrix for a massless free field is traced over the degrees of freedom residing inside an imaginary sphere; the resulting entropy is shown to be proportional to the area (and not the volume) of the sphere. Possible connections with the physics of black holes are discussed.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 6217393
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Vol. 71:5; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
DENSITY MATRIX
SCALAR FIELDS
ENTROPY
MASSLESS PARTICLES
BLACK HOLES
GROUND STATES
SURFACE AREA
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY LEVELS
MATRICES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
662110* - General Theory of Particles & Fields- Theory of Fields & Strings- (1992-)