On the holographic bound in Newtonian cosmology

TL;DR

This paper presents a Newtonian quantum-mechanical model of the Universe's entropy, showing it does not saturate the holographic bound, thus refining previous estimates within a simplified framework.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Newtonian quantum model that calculates the Universe's gravitational entropy without saturating the holographic limit.

Findings

The model yields lower entropy estimates than previous bounds.

Gravitational equipotential surfaces are linked to isoentropic surfaces.

The results improve upon earlier theoretical estimates.

Abstract

The holographic principle sets an upper bound on the total entropy content of the Universe. Within the limits of a Newtonian approximation, a quantum-mechanical model is presented to describe the cosmological fluid. Under the assumption that gravitational equipotential surfaces can be identified with isoentropic surfaces, this model allows for a simple computation of the gravitational entropy of the Universe. The results thus obtained no longer saturate the holographic bound, thus representing a considerable improvement on previous theoretical estimates.