Surface term, Virasoro algebra, and Wald entropy of black holes in higher-curvature gravity

TL;DR

This paper extends a Virasoro algebra-based method for deriving black hole entropy from Einstein gravity to higher-curvature gravity theories, successfully reproducing the Wald entropy and demonstrating the approach's generality.

Contribution

The authors generalize the Virasoro algebra approach to higher-curvature gravity, connecting it with Wald entropy, thus broadening its applicability beyond Einstein gravity.

Findings

Successfully derived Wald entropy using Virasoro algebra in higher-curvature gravity

Confirmed the physical generality of the Virasoro approach for black hole entropy

Extended the method's applicability to modified gravity theories

Abstract

Recently, in the Einstein gravity, Majhi and Padmanabhan proposed a straightforward and transparent way in obtaining the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy by using the approach based on the Virasoro algebra and central charge. In this work, we generalize their approach to the modified gravity with higher curvature corrections and show that their approach can successfully lead to the corresponding Wald entropy in the higher curvature gravity. Our result shows that the approach is physically general.