Thermodynamic properties of modified gravity theories

Abstract

We review thermodynamic properties of modified gravity theories, such as [Formula: see text] gravity and [Formula: see text] gravity, where [Formula: see text] is the scalar curvature and [Formula: see text] is the torsion scalar in teleparallelism. In particular, we explore the equivalence between the equations of motion for modified gravity theories and the Clausius relation in thermodynamics. In addition, thermodynamics of the cosmological apparent horizon is investigated in [Formula: see text] gravity. We show both equilibrium and nonequilibrium descriptions of thermodynamics. It is demonstrated that the second law of thermodynamics in the universe can be met, when the temperature of the outside of the apparent horizon is equivalent to that of the inside of it.