The Limits of Information
Abstract
Description
Black holes have their own thermodynamics including notions of entropy and temperature and versions of the three laws. After a light introduction to black hole physics, I recollect how black hole thermodynamics evolved in the 1970's, while at the same time stressing conceptual points which were given little thought at that time, such as why the entropy should be linear in the black hole's surface area. I also review a variety of attempts made over the years to provide a statistical mechanics for black hole thermodynamics. Finally, I discuss the origin of the information bounds for ordinary systems that have arisen as applications of black hole thermodynamics.
LaTeX, 10 pages, Invited talk at International Conference on the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics, Jerusalem May 2000. To appear in the Dec. 2001 issue of Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. Typos corrected and one reference added
LaTeX, 10 pages, Invited talk at International Conference on the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics, Jerusalem May 2000. To appear in the Dec. 2001 issue of Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. Typos corrected and one reference added