Some Speculations about Black Hole Entropy in String Theory

The coupling of a string to gravity allows for Schwarzschild black holes whose entropy to area relation is $S=(A/4)(1-4\mu)$, where $\mu$ is the string tension. This departure from the A/4 universality results from a string instanton generating a black hole with smaller entropy at a temperature exceeding the Hawking value. The temperature is sensitive to the presence of classical matter outside the black hole horizon but the entropy is not. The horizon materializes at the qua...

This is an expanded version of a talk given at ``{\em IInd Recontre du Vietnam}'' held at Ho Chi Minh City in October, 1995. We discuss several aspects of black hole entropy in string theory. We first explain why the geometric entropy in two dimensional noncritical string theory is nonperturbatively finite. We then explain the philosophy of regarding massive string states as black branes and how the Beckenstein-Hawking entropy for extremal BPS black holes may be understood as...

In this article we derive the Bekenstein-Hawking formula of black hole entropy from a single string. We consider a open string in the Rindler metric which can be obtained in the large mass limit from the Schwarzschild black hole metric. By solving the field equations we find a nontrivial solution with the exact value of the Hawking temperature. We see that this solution gives us the Bekenstein-Hawking formula of black hole entropy to leading order of approximation. This strin...

We discuss whether black hole entropy counts short or long range microstates in quantum gravity. In brick wall and induced gravity models the entropy arises due to short distance correlations across the event horizon cut off at the Planck length. However, the energy of these short range degrees of freedom is too high compared to the black hole energy. We argue that the long string phenomenon, which naturally appears in matrix quantum mechanics, resolves this issue by lowering...

The notion of black-hole entropy was introduced by Jacob Bekenstein in 1972. During past 45 years this subject was in the center of interests of the modern theoretical physics. In this paper we briefly discuss "puzzles" of the black-hole physics, connected with their entropy. We also demonstrate that when the standard energy conditions are violated entropy associated with the event horizon can have quite unexpected behavior.

Suggested correspondence between a black hole and a highly excited elementary string is explored. Black hole entropy is calculated by computing the density of states for an open excited string. We identify the square root of oscillator number of the excited string with Rindler energy of black hole to obtain an entropy formula which, not only agrees at the leading order with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, but also reproduces the logarithmic correction obtained for black hole ...

We give a brief overview of black hole entropy, covering a few main developments since Bekenstein's original proposal

We argue that Bekenstein entropy can be interpreted as the entropy of an effective string with a rescaled tension. Using the AdS/CFT correspondence we show that the Bekenstein entropy on the boundary CFT is given by the entropy of a string at the stretched horizon of the AdS black hole in the bulk. The gravitationally redshifted tension and energy of the string match those required to reproduce Bekenstein entropy.

In these notes we describe recent progress in understanding finite size corrections to the black hole entropy. Much of the earlier work concerning quantum black holes has been in the limit of large charges when the area of the even horizon is also large. In recent years there has been substantial progress in understanding the entropy of supersymmetric black holes within string theory going well beyond the large charge limit. It has now become possible to begin exploring finit...

The modeling of black holes is an important desideratum for any quantum theory of gravity. Not only is a classical black hole metric sought, but also agreement with the laws of black hole thermodynamics. In this paper, we describe how these goals are obtained in string theory. We review black hole thermodynamics, and then explicate the general stringy derivation of classical spacetimes, the construction of a simple black hole solution, and the derivation of its entropy. With ...