Related papers: Black Holes and Strings: the Polymer Link

We give an overview of the field of quantum gravity, string theory and black holes summarizing various white papers in this subject that were submitted as part of the Snowmass process.

We review the arguments that fundamental string states are in one to one correspondence with black hole states. We demonstrate the power of the assumption by showing that it implies that the statistical entropy of a wide class of nonextreme…

The theory of quadratic forms and class numbers has connections to many classical problems in number theory. Recently, class numbers have appeared in the study of black holes in string theory. We describe this connection and raise questions…

We review some recent results obtained for black holes using effective field theory methods applied to quantum gravity, in particular the unique effective action. Black holes are complex thermodynamical objects that not only have a…

Supersymmetric black holes provide an excellent theoretical laboratory to test ideas about quantum gravity in general and black hole entropy in particular. When four-dimensional supergravity is interpreted as the low-energy approximation of…

The one-loop contribution to the entropy of a black hole from field modes near the horizon is computed in string theory. It is modular invariant and ultraviolet finite. There is an infrared divergence that signifies an instability near the…

I review the recent progress in providing a statistical foundation for black hole thermodynamics. In the context of string theory, one can now identify and count quantum states associated with black holes. One can also compute the analog of…

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…

Bringing gravity into a quantum-mechanical framework is likely the most profound remaining problem in fundamental physics. The "unitarity crisis" for black hole evolution appears to be a key facet of this problem, whose resolution will…

We develop the general formalism for joining, splitting and interconnection of closed and open strings. As an application, we study examples of fundamental cosmic string collisions leading to gravitational collapse. We find that the…

We argue that the light particles in string theory obey an effective quantum mechanics modified by the inclusion of a quantum-gravitational friction term, induced by unavoidable couplings to unobserved massive string states in the…

Black holes are more than just odd-looking curiosities in gravity theory. They uniquely intertwine the basic principles of General Relativity with those of Quantum Theory. Just by demanding that they nevertheless obey acceptable laws of…

We discuss the role of string solitons in duality and examine the feature of compositeness, which allows for the interpretation of general solutions as bound states of supersymmetric fundamental constituents. This feature lies at the heart…

I review some recent work (done in collaboration with G. Veneziano) which clarifies the existence of a correspondence between self-gravitating fundamental string states and Schwarzschild black holes. The main result is a detailed…

The analogy between the laws of black hole mechanics and the laws of thermodynamics led Bekenstein and Hawking to argue that black holes should be considered as real thermodynamic systems that are characterised by entropy and temperature.…

We give an elementary review of black holes in string theory. We discuss black hole entropy from string microstates and Hawking radiation from these states. We then review the structure of 2-charge microstates, and explore how…

This is a short summary of my lectures given at the Fourth Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics. These lectures gave a brief introduction to black holes in string theory, in which I primarily focussed on describing some of…

Recent insights from string theory and supergravity on the macroscopic and the microscopic description of black hole entropy are discussed.

Charged black holes, both spherically symmetric and rotating, in the low energy limit of string theory (Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory) are compared to analogous geometries in pure general relativity. We describe various physical…

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…