No abstract

We consider the nonrotating isolated horizon as an inner boundary of a four-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetime region. Due to the symmetry of the isolated horizon, it turns out that the boundary degrees of freedom can be described by a SO(1,1) BF theory with sources. This provides a new alternative approach to the usual one using Chern-Simons theory to study the black hole entropy. To count the microscopical degrees of freedom with the boundary BF theory, the entropy of the isolated horizon can also be calculated in the framework of loop quantum gravity. The leading-order contribution to the entropy coincides with the Bekenstein-Hawking area law only for a particular choice of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter, which is different from its value in the usual approach using Chern-Simons theory. Moreover, the quantum correction to the entropy formula is a constant term rather than a logarithmic term. *

In this paper, we extend the calculation of the entropy of the nonrotating isolated horizons in 4 dimensional spacetime to that in a higher dimensional spacetime. We show that the boundary degrees of freedom on an isolated horizon can be described effectively by a punctured SO(1, 1) BF theory. Then the entropy of the nonrotating isolated horizon can be calculated out by counting the microstates. It satisfies the Bekenstein-Hawking law.

In this paper, the isolated horizons with rotation are considered. It is shown that the symplectic form is the same as that in the nonrotating case. As a result, the boundary degrees of freedom can be also described by an SO(1, 1) BF theory. The entropy of the rotating isolated horizon satisfies the Bekenstein-Hawking area law with the same Barbero-Immirzi parameter.