Title: Black Hole Entropy; Part 1 of 2-part series titled "A Primer on Black Hole Entropy and the Generalized Second Law" (See part 2 here:    • BHI Foundations Seminar (02/12/24) "T...  )

Abstract: What can it mean to attribute a physical entropy to a vacuum region of spacetime---such as a black hole---in the semi-classical regime, where the spacetime geometry is treated classically? In this talk, I give an exposition and analysis of a number of conceptual and foundational problems attending such attributions. I address, inter alia, questions about: how one might try to justify such attributions; the type of entropy at issue (thermodynamical, Gibbsian, Boltzmannian, entanglement, holographic,...); and what the physical significance of such attributions may be. I conclude with speculative remarks on a few larger philosophical issues about the nature of entropy and of spacetime that the attribution raises.

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