Meeting Information

The Unfinished Story of Black Hole Entropy

December 13, 2006
American Center for Physics
College Park, MD

Abstract

There is no doubt that black holes have entropy equal to one fourth the horizon area in Planck units. Yet, despite over thirty years of research, there remains no consensus on the most fundamental question: "What does black hole entropy count?" I will review the discovery of this entropy and some of the controversy of its meaning, and implications that persist to this day.

Biography

Theodore Jacobson is Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park. He earned a B.A degree in physics and mathematics at Reed College, and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has written or co-authored over 90 scientific publications. He has served on the Editorial Boards of Physical Review D and Physical Review Letters, and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. His current research interests include black hole thermodynamics, the microstructure of space-time, and the possible breakdown of relativity theory.