The Dark Side of String Theory: Black Holes and Black Strings

In this review, I discuss a general method for constructing classical solutions of the equations of motion arising in the effective low energy string theory, and discuss specific applications of this method. (Based on talks given at the Johns Hopkins Workshop held at Goteborg, June 8-10, 1992, and ICTP Summer Workshop held at Trieste, July 2-3, 1992)

The black hole solutions to Einstein's vacuum field equations are also solutions to the equations of motion of the low energy limit of superstring theory. At the same time, string theory boasts a much broader and richer collection of black hole solutions. Fortunately, string theories also possess a remarkable set of duality symmetries relating states within and between different string theories. These duality symmetries can be exploited to construct new black hole solutions f...

An exact solution of the low-energy string theory representing static, spherical symmetric dyonic black hole is found. The solution is labeled by their mass, electric charge, magnetic charge and asymptotic value of the scalar dilaton. Some interesting properties of the dyonic black holes are studied. In particular, the Hawking temperature of dyonic black holes depends on both the electric and magnetic charges, and the extremal ones, which have nonzero electric and magnetic ch...

This paper reviews the role of black holes in the context of fundamental physics. After recalling some basic results stemming from Planckian string calculations, I present three examples of how stringy effects can improve the curvature singularity of classical black hole geometries.

In this paper, we obtain two different static black string solutions by considering as sources axisymmetric dark matter distributions in 3+1 dimensions. These solutions tend asymptotically to the usual static and uncharged black string vacuum solution predicted by General Relativity (GR). We show that both the solutions present an event horizon each, like the vacuum solution, which is larger than the horizon of the latter. Then, we obtain the Hawking temperature associated wi...

We review recent progress in our understanding of the physics of black holes. In particular, we discuss the ideas from string theory that explain the entropy of black holes from a counting of microstates of the hole, and the related derivation of unitary Hawking radiation from such holes.

Talk given at the 7th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, Stanford University, July 24-30, 1994.

In these lecture notes from Strings `91, I briefly sketch the analogy between two dimensional black holes and the s-wave sector of four dimensional black holes, and the physical interest of the latter, particularly in the magnetically charged case.

In these lectures we review the quantum physics of large Schwarzschild black holes. Hawking's information paradox, the theory of the stretched horizon and the principle of black hole complementarity are covered. We then discuss how the ideas of black hole complementarity may be realized in string theory. Finally, arguments are given that the world may be a hologram. Lectures delivered at ICTP Spring School on String Theory, Gauge Theory, and Quantum Gravity, 1995.

The statistical mechanics of black holes arbitrarily far from extremality is modeled by a gas of weakly interacting strings. As an effective low energy description of black holes the model provides a number of highly non-trivial consistency checks and predictions. Speculations on a fundamental origin of the model suggest surprising simplifications in non-perturbative string theory, even in the absence of supersymmetry.