Dispersive fields in de Sitter space and event horizon thermodynamics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how high-energy Lorentz violations affect thermodynamics in de Sitter space, revealing that dispersive effects alter the thermal nature of the vacuum and may impact black hole thermodynamics.

Contribution

It establishes a detailed correspondence between dispersive effects in de Sitter and black hole metrics, highlighting their similar impact on thermodynamics.

Findings

Bunch-Davies vacuum is non-thermal in dispersive de Sitter space

The vacuum remains the only stable stationary state

Dispersive effects influence thermodynamical laws similarly in de Sitter and black hole spacetimes

Abstract

When Lorentz invariance is violated at high energy, the laws of black hole thermodynamics are apparently no longer satisfied. To shed light on this observation, we study dispersive fields in de Sitter space. We show that the Bunch-Davies vacuum state restricted to the static patch is no longer thermal, and that the Tolman law is violated. However we also show that, for free fields at least, this vacuum is the only stationary stable state, as if it were in equilibrium. We then present a precise correspondence between dispersive effects found in de Sitter and in black hole metrics. This indicates that the consequences of dispersion on thermodynamical laws could also be similar.