Statistical Mechanical Origin of the Entropy of a Rotating, Charged Black Hole

Abstract

It is shown that the entropy of a rotating, charged black hole is, in senses made precise in the paper, (i) the logarithm of the number of quantum mechanically distinct ways that the hole could have been made, and (ii) the logarithm of the number of configurations that the hole's "atmosphere," as measured by stationary observers, could assume in the presence of its background noise of acceleration radiation. In addition, a proof is given of the generalized second law of thermodynamics.