Relating Schwarzschild Black Holes to Branes-Antibranes

We show that D=4 Schwarzschild black holes can arise from a doublet of Euclidean D3-antiD3 pairs embedded in D=10 Lorentzian spacetime. By starting from a D=10 type IIB supergravity description for the D3-antiD3 pairs and wrapping one of them over an external 2-sphere, we derive all vacuum solutions compatible with the symmetry of the problem. Analysing under what condition a Euclidean brane configuration embedded in a Lorentzian spacetime can lead to a time-independent space...

We show that a model based on a D3-brane--anti-D3-brane system at finite temperature, proposed previously as a microscopic description of the non-rotating black threebrane of type IIB supergravity arbitrarily far from extremality, can also successfully reproduce the entropy of the rotating threebrane with arbitrary charge (including the neutral case, which corresponds to the Kerr black hole in seven dimensions). Our results appear to confirm in particular the need for a pecul...

A black hole solution to low energy type IIA string theory which is extremal, non-supersymmetric, and carries 0- and 6-brane charge is presented. For large values of the charges it is metastable and a corresponding D-brane picture can be found. The mass and statistical entropy of the two descriptions agree at a correspondence point up to factors of order one, providing more evidence that the correspondence principle for black holes and strings of Horowitz and Polchinski may b...

In this review we try to give a pedagogical introduction to the recent progress in the resolution of old problems of black hole thermodynamics within superstring theory. We start with a brief description of classical black hole dynamics. Then, follow with the consideration of general properties of supersymmetric black holes. We conclude with the review of the statistical explanation of the black hole entropy and string theory description of the black hole evaporation.

This thesis is devoted to trying to find a microscopic quantum description of black holes. We consider black holes in string theory which is a quantum theory of gravity. We find that the ``area law'' black hole entropy for extremal and near-extremal charged black holes arises from counting microscopic configurations. We study black holes in five and four spacetime dimensions. We calculate the Hawking temperature and give a physical picture of the Hawking decay process. Hopefu...

Using a holographic proposal for the entanglement entropy we study its behavior in various supergravity backgrounds. We are particularly interested in the possibility of using the entanglement entropy as way to detect transitions induced by the presence horizons. We consider several geometries with horizons: the black hole in $AdS_3$, nonextremal Dp-branes, dyonic black holes asymptotically to $AdS_4$ and also Schwarzschild black holes in global $AdS_p$ coordinates. Generical...

We consider D-brane/anti-D-brane systems at T>0. Starting at the closed string vacuum, we argue that a finite temperature leads to the reappearance of open string degrees of freedom. We also show that, at a sufficiently large temperature, the open string vacuum becomes stable. Building upon this observation and previous work by Horowitz, Maldacena and Strominger, we formulate a microscopic brane-antibrane model for the non-extremal black three-brane in ten dimensions (as well...

We examine the dynamics of the gravitational collapse in a 4-dim Lorentzian brane embedded in a 5-dim bulk with an extra timelike dimension. By considering the collapse of pure dust on the brane we derive a bouncing FLRW interior solution and match it with a corrected Schwarzschild exterior geometry. In the physical domain considered for the parameters of the solution, the analytical extension is built, exhibiting an exterior event horizon and a Cauchy horizon, analogous to t...

This is a revised and shortened version of a MSc thesis submitted to the University of Sussex, UK. An introduction into the pre-string physics of black holes and related thermodynamics is given. Then, starting with an introduction of how superstring theory is approaching the problem of black hole entropy, work on that and closely related topics like Hawking radiation and the information paradox is reviewed.

The thesis begins with an introduction to M-theory (at a graduate student's level), starting from perturbative string theory and proceeding to dualities, D-branes and finally Matrix theory. The following chapter treats, in a self-contained way, of general classical p-brane solutions. Black and extremal branes are reviewed, along with their semi-classical thermodynamics. We then focus on intersecting extremal branes, the intersection rules being derived both with and without t...