Luc van den Bos

Luc's bachelor thesis project in physics focuses on Black Hole Thermodynamics (BHT), and especially the second law of BHT which states that the horizon area stays the same or increases as a function of time (which has the implication that the (Bekenstein-Hawking) entropy of black holes increases as a function of time). Interestingly, the second law of BHT has a different status than the second law of regular thermodynamics. Whereas the latter is either simply assumed, or (a probabilistic version) derived from an underlying matter theory, in the context of black hole thermodynamics the second law is a theorem in differential geometry, i.e. the area theorem. This raises interesting foundational questions regarding the conceptual relationship between spacetime/geometry and matter. In particular, this project will investigate what consequences black holes, treated as thermodynamical objects, have for the conceptual dichotomy between spacetime and matter (i.e. the orthodox view that everything in our universe is either an aspect of spacetime structure or a pure form of matter, never both, never neither).