Thermodynamics of a collapsing shell in an expanding Universe

TL;DR

This paper models the quasi-static collapse of a radiating spherical shell in de Sitter space-time using thermodynamics, revealing phase transition-related singularities in thermodynamic quantities.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamical formalism to analyze shell collapse in an expanding universe, highlighting phase transitions during the process.

Findings

Specific heat at constant area shows singularities

Thermodynamical quantities exhibit phase transition signatures

Collapse dynamics linked to thermodynamic phase changes

Abstract

We describe the quasi-static collapse of a radiating, spherical shell of matter in de Sitter space-time using a thermodynamical formalism. It is found that the specific heat at constant area and other thermodynamical quantities exhibit singularities related to phase transitions during the collapse.