Different Aspects of Entropic Cosmology

Abstract

We provide a short review of the recent developments in entropic cosmology based on two thermodynamic laws of the apparent horizon, namely the first and the second laws of thermodynamics. The first law essentially provides the change in entropy of the apparent horizon during the cosmic evolution of the universe; in particular, it is expressed by TdS=−d(ρV)+WdV (where W is the work density and other quantities have their usual meanings). In this way, the first law actually links various theories of gravity with the entropy of the apparent horizon. This leads to a natural question—“What is the form of the horizon entropy corresponding to a general modified theory of gravity?”. The second law of horizon thermodynamics states that the change in total entropy (the sum of horizon entropy + matter fields’ entropy) with respect to cosmic time must be positive, where the matter fields behave like an open system characterised by a non-zero chemical potential. The second law of horizon thermodynamics importantly provides model-independent constraints on entropic parameters. Finally, we discuss the standpoint of entropic cosmology on inflation (or bounce), reheating and primordial gravitational waves from the perspective of a generalised entropy function.

Keywords

• entropic cosmology
• inflation
• reheating
• primordial gravitational waves
• bounce