Abstract

Black holes are one of the most astonishing predictions of Einstein's general relativity. Yet at the same time they are remarkably simple objects, being described by (at most) three parameters. One of the defining features of a black hole is that of the event horizon; the mathematical boundary inside of which not even light can overcome the pull of gravity. The inability for anything to escape beyond the horizon lead researchers in the 1970's to the equilibrium thermodynamic description of black hole mechanics, and ultimately to the discovery of Hawking radiation. Although black holes are three-dimensional objects, their equilibrium thermodynamic properties, temperature and entropy, are characterized by the two-dimensional surface formed by the horizon; the so-called Holographic principle.