Entropy of isolated horizon from surface term of gravitational action

Abstract: Starting from the surface term of gravitational action, one can construct a Virasoro algebra with central extension, with which the horizon entropy can be derived by using Cardy formula. This approach gives a new routine to calculate and interpret the horizon entropy. In this paper, we generalize this approach to a more general case, the isolated horizon, which contains non-stationary spacetimes beyond stationary ones. By imposing appropriate boundary conditions near the horizon, the full set of diffeomorphism is restricted to a subset where the corresponding Noether charges form a Virasoro algebra with central extension. Then by using the Cardy formula, we can derive the entropy of the isolated horizon.