Entropy Production and the Gravitational Origin of the Second Law

Abstract

We investigate the relation between gravitational dynamics and the second law of thermodynamics in a non-equilibrium framework. Extending Jacobson's thermodynamic derivation of the Einstein equations, we introduce a stochastic geometric flow for the spacetime metric and define entropy production as the ratio between forward and time-reversed trajectories. We show that entropy production is governed by curvature and matter contributions, and that its vanishing selects configurations satisfying the Einstein field equations. Classical general relativity thus emerges as the reversible limit of an underlying stochastic geometro-dynamics, while the second law arises from its non-equilibrium evolution.