Generalized Thermodynamics of Solitonic Event Horizons in Dispersive Field Theories

Abstract

The realization of Hawking radiation in optical analogs has historically focused on kinematic observables, such as the effective temperature determined by the horizon's surface gravity. A complete thermodynamic description, however, necessitates a rigorous definition of entropy and irreversibility, which has remained elusive in Hamiltonian optical systems. In this work, we bridge this gap by introducing an operational entropy for solitonic event horizons, derived from the spectral partitioning of the optical field into coherent solitonic and incoherent radiative subsystems. The emission of resonant radiation, driven by the breaking of soliton integrability under higher-order dispersion, is the fundamental mechanism for entropy production. Numerical simulations of the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GNLSE) demonstrate that, in a coarse-grained sense, this process obeys a generalized second law (GSL), $ΔS_{\mathrm{tot}} \ge 0$, robustly across a wide range of soliton orders and dispersion strengths. These results show that event horizons in dispersive field theories behave as consistent nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems, and that the relevant entropy is accessible from laboratory spectral measurements.