I shall discuss the second law of black hole mechanics in gravitational theories with higher derivative terms in the action. Wall has described a method for defining an entropy that satisfies the second law to linear order in perturbations around a stationary black hole. I shall explain how this can be extended to define an entropy that satisfies the second law to quadratic order in perturbations, provided that one treats the higher derivative terms in the sense of effective field theory.
This talk is based on work with Stefan Hollands and Aron Kovacs.
Harvey Reall (Cambridge): The second law of black hole mechanics in effective field theory
