Related papers: Lost Horizon? -- Modeling Black Holes in String Th…
We review the classical thermodynamics and the greybody factors of general (rotating) non-extreme black holes and discuss universal features of their near-horizon geometry. We motivate a microscopic interpretation of general black holes…
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.…
Black holes are the hydrogen atoms of quantum gravity. For instance solving the information loss paradox will likely require a deep understanding of how the long-sought quantum gravity theory works. In this thesis we explore how black holes…
We review some recent advances in black hole thermodynamics, including statistical mechanical origins of black hole entropy and its leading order corrections, from the viewpoints of various quantum gravity theories. We then examine the…
Black holes are a continuing source of mystery. Although their classical properties have been understood since the 1970's, their quantum properties raise some of the deepest questions in theoretical physics. Some of these questions have…
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…
To explain black hole thermodynamics in quantum gravity, one must introduce constraints to ensure that a black hole is actually present. I show that for a large class of black holes, such ``horizon constraints'' allow the use of conformal…
We investigate quantum aspects of the three dimensional (BTZ) black holes. The discussions are devoted to two subjects: the thermodynamics of quantum scalar fields and the string theory in the three dimensional black hole backgrounds. We…
The comparison of geometrical properties of black holes with classical thermodynamic variables reveals surprising parallels between the laws of black hole mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics. Since Hawking's discovery that black holes…
Quantum aspects of black holes represent an important testing ground for a theory of quantum gravity. The recent success of string theory in reproducing the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy formula provides a link between general…
The study of black holes in string theory has led to the discovery of deep and surprising connections between black holes and modular forms -- which are two classical, a priori unrelated, subjects. This article explains the main physical…
Black hole evaporation is investigated in a (1+1)-dimensional model of quantum gravity. Quantum corrections to the black hole entropy are computed, and the fine-grained entropy of the Hawking radiation is studied. A generalized second law…
Although we know that black holes are characterized by a temperature and an entropy, we do not yet have a satisfactory microscopic ``statistical mechanical'' explanation for black hole thermodynamics. I describe a new approach that…
This is an introductory, up-to-date review of the essentials of black hole thermodynamics. The main topics surveyed are: (i) the four laws of thermodynamics as applied to a black hole horizon, and the current status of their proofs; (ii)…
I present in detail the case for regarding black hole thermodynamics as having a statistical-mechanical explanation in exact parallel with the statistical-mechanical explanation believed to underly the thermodynamics of other systems. (Here…
Black holes behave as thermodynamic systems, and a central task of any quantum theory of gravity is to explain these thermal properties. A statistical mechanical description of black hole entropy once seemed remote, but today we suffer an…
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…
Solutions to low energy string theory describing black holes and black strings are reviewed. Many of these solutions can be obtained by applying simple solution generating transformations to the Schwarzschild metric. In a few cases, the…
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…
In recent years, Susskind, Thorlacius and Uglum have proposed a model for strings near a black hole horizon in order to represent the quantum mechanical entropy of the black hole and to resolve the information loss problem. However, this…