Thermodynamics in $f(R)$ gravity in the Palatini formalism

Abstract

We investigate thermodynamics of the apparent horizon in $f(R)$ gravity in the Palatini formalism with non-equilibrium and equilibrium descriptions. We demonstrate that it is more transparent to understand the horizon entropy in the equilibrium framework than that in the non-equilibrium one. Furthermore, we show that the second law of thermodynamics can be explicitly verified in both phantom and non-phantom phases for the same temperature of the universe outside and inside the apparent horizon.

20 pages, no figure, accepted in JCAP