English

Counting Dyons in N=4 String Theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2008-11-26 v1

Abstract

We present a microscopic index formula for the degeneracy of dyons in four-dimensional N=4 string theory. This counting formula is manifestly symmetric under the duality group, and its asymptotic growth reproduces the macroscopic Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. We give a derivation of this result in terms of the type II five-brane compactified on K3, by assuming that its fluctuations are described by a closed string theory on its world-volume. We find that the degeneracies are given in terms of the denominator of a generalized super Kac-Moody algebra. We also discuss the correspondence of this result with the counting of D-brane states.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-th/9607026,
  title  = {Counting Dyons in N=4 String Theory},
  author = {R. Dijkgraaf and E. Verlinde and H. Verlinde},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/9607026},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

22 pages, latex, one epsf-figure