Bulk entropy in loop quantum gravity Original Research Article

In the framework of loop quantum gravity (LQG), we generalize previous boundary state counting for black hole entropy [E.R. Livine, D.R. Terno, Quantum black holes: Entropy and entanglement on the horizon, Nucl. Phys. B 741 (2006) 131, ] to a full bulk state counting. After suitable gauge fixing, we show how to compute the bulk entropy of a bounded region of space (the “black hole”) with fixed boundary conditions. This allows to study in detail the relationship between the entropy and the boundary area and to identify a holographic regime for LQG where the leading order of the entropy scales with the area. In this regime we can fine tune the factor between entropy and area without changing the Immirzi parameter.