Thermodynamic Behavior of Friedmann Equation at Apparent Horizon of FRW Universe

M. Akbar, Rong-Gen Cai

Published 2006-09-19, updated 2007-03-14Version 4

It is shown that the differential form of Friedmann equation of a FRW universe can be rewritten as a universal form $dE = TdS + WdV$ at apparent horizon, where $E$ and $V$ are the matter energy and volume inside the apparent horizon (the energy $E$ is the same as the Misner-Sharp energy in the case of Einstein general relativity), $W=(\rho-P)/2$ is the work density and $\rho$ and $P$ are energy density and pressure of the matter in the universe, respectively. From the thermodynamic identity one can derive that the apparent horizon has associated entropy $S= A/4G$ and temperature $T = \kappa / 2\pi$ in Einstein general relativity, where $A$ is the area of apparent horizon and $\kappa$ is the surface gravity at apparent horizon. We extend our procedure to the Gauss-Bonnet gravity and more general Lovelock gravity and show that the differential form of Friedmann equations in these gravities can also be rewritten to thee universal form $dE = TdS + WdV$ at the apparent horizon with entropy $S$ being given by expression previously known via black hole thermodynamics.