Thermodynamics of dynamical black holes beyond perturbation theory

[2604.00170] Thermodynamics of dynamical black holes beyond perturbation theory Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology arXiv:2604.00170 (gr-qc) [Submitted on 31 Mar 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 4 Jul 2026 (this version, v3)] Title: Thermodynamics of dynamical black holes beyond perturbation theory Authors: Abhay Ashtekar , Daniel E. Paraizo , Jonathan Shu View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: The close similarities of the three laws of black hole mechanics, discovered by Bardeen, Carter and Hawking, with the laws of thermodynamics led to the identification of a multiple of the area of the event horizon with entropy. However, developments over the past two decades have shown that this paradigm has some important limitations, especially because of the teleological nature of event horizons. After a brief review of these limitations, we will show that they can be overcome using quasi-local horizons. Specifically, the new first law applies to black holes in general relativity that can be \emph{arbitrarily far from equilibrium} and refers to \emph{finite} changes that occur due to \emph{physical processes} at the horizon. The second law is now a \emph{quantitative} statement that relates the change in the area of a dynamical horizon segment due to fluxes of energy falling into the black hole. Together, they lead one to identify black hole entropy with the area of marginally trapped surfaces in quasi-local horizons, generalizing recent perturbative findings that it should be identified not with the area of the event horizon but with the area of a marginally trapped surface inside it. Comments: 4 Figures, 1 Table, 56 pages, Detailed version of arXiv:2512.11659 ; Some clarifying remarks and references added Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) ; High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Mathematical Physics (math-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2604.00170 [gr-qc] (or arXiv:2604.00170v3 [gr-qc] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.00170 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Journal reference: Gen. Relativ. Gravit. Lewandowski Memorial Issue 58, 91 (2026) Related DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-026-03585-4 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Abhay Ashtekar [ view email ] [v1] Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:20:43 UTC (203 KB) [v2] Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:13:12 UTC (207 KB) [v3] Sat, 4 Jul 2026 14:11:26 UTC (210 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: gr-qc < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-04 Change to browse by: hep-th math math-ph math.MP References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

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