Abstract:
The zeroth law of black hole mechanics is an assertion of constancy of the surface gravity on a stationary Killing horizon. The Hawking temperature of the black hole horizon is proportional to the surface gravity. Therefore, the constancy of the surface gravity is reminiscent of the zeroth law of ordinary thermodynamics. In this work, we provide a proof of the zeroth law in Lanczos-Lovelock theories of gravity, where the Einstein Hilbert action is supplemented by higher curvature terms.