Introduction to Black Hole Thermodynamics

Abstract

These notes aim to provide an introduction to the basics of black hole thermodynamics. After explaining Bekenstein's original proposal that black holes have entropy, we discuss Hawking's discovery of black hole radiation, its analog for Rindler space in the Unruh effect, the Euclidean approach to black hole thermodynamics, some basics about von Neumann entropy and its applications, the Ryu-Takayanagi formula, and the nature of a white hole.