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The Astrophysical Journal Volume 710 Number 2 Create an alert RSS this journal

Chas A. Egan and Charles H. Lineweaver 2010 ApJ 710 1825 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/1825

A LARGER ESTIMATE OF THE ENTROPY OF THE UNIVERSE

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Chas A. Egan1,2 and Charles H. Lineweaver3

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Abstract References Cited By

Using recent measurements of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass function, we find that SMBHs are the largest contributor to the entropy of the observable universe, contributing at least an order of magnitude more entropy than previously estimated. The total entropy of the observable universe is correspondingly higher, and is S obs = 3.1+3.0 –1.7 × 10104 k. We calculate the entropy of the current cosmic event horizon to be S CEH = 2.6 ± 0.3 × 10122 k, dwarfing the entropy of its interior, S CEH int = 1.2+1.1 –0.7 × 10103 k. We make the first tentative estimate of the entropy of weakly interacting massive particle dark matter within the observable universe, S dm = 1088 ± 1 k. We highlight several caveats pertaining to these estimates and make recommendations for future work.


Keywords

black hole physics; cosmology: miscellaneous; diffusion; elementary particles; gravitation; neutrinos


Dates

Issue 2 (2010 February 20)

Received 2009 September 22, accepted for publication 2010 January 11

Published 2010 February 3



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