Thermodynamic Behavior of Field Equations for f(R) Gravity

Recently it has shown that Einstein's field equations can be rewritten into a form of the first law of thermodynamics both at event horizon of static spherically symmetric black holes and apparent horizon of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe, which indicates intrinsic thermodynamic properties of spacetime horizon. In the present paper we deal with the so-called $f(R)$ gravity, whose action is a function of the curvature scalar $R$. In the setup of static spherically symmetric black hole spacetime, we find that at the event horizon, the field equations of $f(R)$ gravity can be written into a form $dE = TdS - PdV + Td\bar{S}$, where $T$ is the Hawking temperature and $S=Af'(R)/4G$ is the horizon entropy of the black hole, $E$ is the horizon energy of the black hole, $P$ is the radial pressure of matter, $V$ is the volume of black hole horizon, and $d\bar S$ can be interpreted as the entropy production term due to nonequilibrium thermodynamics of spacetime. In the setup of FRW universe, the field equations can also be cast to a similar form, $dE=TdS +WdV +Td\bar S$, at the apparent horizon, where $W=(\rho-P)/2$, $E$ is the energy of perfect fluid with energy density $\rho$ and pressure $P$ inside the apparent horizon. Compared to the case of Einstein's general relativity, an additional term $d\bar S$ also appears here. The appearance of the additional term is consistent with the argument recently given by Eling {\it et al.} (gr-qc/0602001) that the horizon thermodynamics is non-equilibrium one for the $f(R)$ gravity.