Equilibrium thermodynamics in modified gravitational theories

We show that it is possible to obtain a picture of equilibrium thermodynamics on the apparent horizon in the expanding cosmological background for a wide class of modified gravity theories with the Lagrangian density $f(R, \phi, X)$, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar and $X$ is the kinetic energy of a scalar field $\phi$. This comes from a suitable definition of an energy momentum tensor of the "dark" component that respects to a local energy conservation in the Jordan frame. In this framework the horizon entropy $S$ corresponding to equilibrium thermodynamics is equal to a quarter of the horizon area $A$ in units of gravitational constant $G$, as in Einstein gravity. For a flat cosmological background with a decreasing Hubble parameter, $S$ globally increases with time, as it happens for viable $f(R)$ inflation and dark energy models. We also show that the equilibrium description in terms of the horizon entropy $S$ is convenient because it takes into account the contribution of both the horizon entropy $\hat{S}$ in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and an entropy production term.