Black hole thermodynamics from decoherence

TL;DR

This paper links black hole thermodynamics to quantum coherence and decoherence, providing a novel information-theoretic framework to understand black hole laws and potential laboratory analogues.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum coherence-based approach to derive all four laws of black hole thermodynamics, connecting them to quantum information concepts.

Findings

Hawking effect attributed to decoherence of squeezed states

Monotonicity of relative entropy yields zeroth and second laws

Effective thermal models derive the first law and Planck's third law

Abstract

We present an approach to the four laws of black hole thermodynamics by utilizing the thermodynamics of quantum coherence. Firstly, Hawking effect is attributed to the decoherence of the two-mode squeezed state in a black hole spacetime. Then use is made of the relative entropy between undecohered and decohered squeezed states whose monotonicity gives the zeroth and the second law, while the first law can be obtained either by the vanishing of the first derivative of relative entropy or by studying the effective thermal model generated by the modular Hamiltonian. Futhermore, information-theoretic arguments give a Planck's form of the third law of black hole thermodynamics. With this approach we can understand the laboratory analogues of black holes solely by quantum theory, and find a way to detect the thermodynamics of black holes produced in colliders.