Membrane paradigm and entropy of black holes in the Euclidean action approach

Abstract: The membrane paradigm approach to black holes fixes in the vicinity of the event horizon a fictitious surface, the stretched horizon, so that the spacetime outside remains unchanged and the spacetime inside is vacuum. Using this powerful method, several black hole properties have been found and settled, such as the horizon's viscosity, electrical conductivity, resistivity, as well as other properties. On the other hand the Euclidean action approach to black hole spacetimes has been very fruitful in understanding black hole entropy. Combining both the Euclidean action and membrane paradigm approaches a direct derivation of the black hole entropy is given. In the derivation it is considered that the only fields present are the gravitational and matter fields, with no electric field.