Brett Bolen

(Anti-)de Sitter black hole thermodynamics and the generalized uncertainty principle

We extend the derivation of the Hawking temperature of a Schwarzschild black hole via the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to the de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spacetimes. The thermodynamics of the Schwarzschild-(anti-)de Sitter black holes is obtained from the generalized uncertainty principle of string theory and non-commutative geometry. This may explain why the thermodynamics of (anti-)de Sitter-like black holes admits a holographic description in terms of a dual quantum conformal field theory, whereas the thermodynamics of Schwarzschild-like black holes does not.

Solutions of higher dimensional Gauss–Bonnet FRW cosmology

We examine the effect on cosmological evolution of adding a Gauss–Bonnet term to the standard Einstein–Hilbert action for a (1 + 3) + d dimensional Friedman–Robertson–Walker (FRW) metric. By assuming that the additional dimensions compactify as a power law as the usual 3 spatial dimensions expand, we solve the resulting dynamical equations and find that the solution may be of either de Sitter or Kasner form depending upon whether the Gauss–Bonnet term or the Einstein term dominates.

Expansion-induced contribution to the precession of binary orbits

We point out the existence of new effects of global spacetime expansion on local binary systems. In addition to a possible change of orbital size, there is a contribution to the precession of elliptic orbits, to be added to the well known general relativistic effect in static spacetimes, and the eccentricity can change. Our model calculations are done using geodesics in a McVittie metric, representing a localized system in an asymptotically Robertson-Walker spacetime; we give a few numerical estimates for that case, and briefly comment on ways in which the model should be improved.