Including gravity in equilibrium thermodynamics

TL;DR

This paper develops a new microcanonical distribution framework for gravitational thermodynamics, treating gravity as a thermodynamic variable and demonstrating its validity across various gravitational systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel microcanonical distribution respecting thermodynamic symmetries and treats the gravitational field as a thermodynamic variable with a conjugate, the gravitational pull.

Findings

Validates the framework for inhomogeneous background fields

Applies to self-gravitating systems and relativistic gases

Extends to quantum gases in gravitational fields

Abstract

This paper is part of a bottom-up approach to gravitational thermodynamics that is guided by the axiomatic frameworks of equilibrium thermodynamics. We identify a novel form of the microcanonical distribution for systems in background gravitational fields that respects the kinetic theory and the thermodynamic symmetries. Thermodynamic consistency dictates the treatment of the gravitational field as a thermodynamic variable. We introduce the thermodynamic conjugate to the gravitational field, the gravitational pull, an additive variable that is a structural element of our microcanonical distribution. We demonstrate the validity of our results to inhomogenous background fields, a class of self-gravitating systems, relativistic gases in Rindler spacetime, and quantum gases.