Pith. sign in

REVIEW 5 cited by

The ``Nernst Theorem'' and Black Hole Thermodynamics

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv gr-qc/9704008 v1 pith:VQQAMAV7 submitted 1997-04-03 gr-qc cond-mat.stat-mechhep-th

classification gr-qccond-mat.stat-mechhep-th
keywords nernsttheoremthermodynamicsblackformulationholethirdzero
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
0 comments
abstract

The Nernst formulation of the third law of ordinary thermodynamics (often referred to as the ``Nernst theorem'') asserts that the entropy, $S$, of a system must go to zero (or a ``universal constant'') as its temperature, $T$, goes to zero. This assertion is commonly considered to be a fundamental law of thermodynamics. As such, it seems to spoil the otherwise perfect analogy between the ordinary laws of thermodynamics and the laws of black hole mechanics, since rotating black holes in general relativity do not satisfy the analog of the ``Nernst theorem''. The main purpose of this paper is to attempt to lay to rest the ``Nernst theorem'' as a law of thermodynamics. We consider a boson (or fermion) ideal gas with its total angular momentum, $J$, as an additional state parameter, and we analyze the conditions on the single particle density of states, $g(\epsilon,j)$, needed for the Nernst formulation of the third law to hold. (Here, $\epsilon$ and $j$ denote the single particle energy and angular momentum.) Although it is shown that the Nernst formulation of the third law does indeed hold under a wide range of conditions, some simple classes of examples of densities of states which violate the ``Nernst theorem'' are given. In particular, at zero temperature, a boson (or fermion) gas confined to a circular string (whose energy is proportional to its length) not only violates the ``Nernst theorem'' also but reproduces some other thermodynamic properties of an extremal rotating black hole.

Discussion (0). Continue with ORCID to comment.

Forward citations

Cited by 5 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Information-Theoretic Black Hole Entropy I: Beyond the Area Law

    hep-th 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Black hole entropy is proposed to equal the Kullback-Leibler divergence between a mass-biased N-bit ensemble and the uniform ensemble, with the area law as the leading 1/N term.

  2. Hawking radiation from black holes in 2+1 dimensions

    gr-qc 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    In 2+1 dimensions, black hole horizons are quantized into lengths 8π ℓ_P n, from which a length ensemble directly yields the Hawking blackbody spectrum with Tolman-modified temperature.

  3. Lifshitz-like black branes in arbitrary dimensions and the third law of thermodynamics

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    Exact black brane solutions with Lifshitz asymptotics are derived in arbitrary dimensions for two models, satisfying the third law for some parameters but exhibiting non-monotonic entropy-temperature relations for others.

  4. Information--Theoretic Black Hole Entropy II: Infrared Gravity and Charged/Rotating Extensions

    hep-th 2026-08 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    A perturbative infrared deformation of general relativity, with coefficients fixed by matching, reproduces the proposed third-law-compatible black hole entropy, and the same formula extends to Kerr-Newman black holes ...

  5. A short overview on the Black Hole-Tower Correspondence and Species Thermodynamics

    hep-th 2025-06 conditional novelty 2.0 of 10

    A review of the black hole-tower correspondence and species thermodynamics, which aim to explain black hole entropy via towers of light states and to show only certain towers are allowed.

Pith tools