Related papers: Strings and Singularities
String theory provides an example of the kind of apparent inconsistency that the {\it Principle of Black Hole Complementarity\/} deals with. To a freely infalling observer a string falling through a black hole horizon appears to be a Planck…
Recent results on classical and quantum strings in a variety of black hole and cosmological spacetimes, in various dimensions, are presented. The curved backgrounds under consideration include the $2+1$ black hole anti de Sitter spacetime…
Cosmic strings are predicted by many field-theory models, and may have been formed at a symmetry-breaking transition early in the history of the universe, such as that associated with grand unification. They could have important…
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…
Supersymmetric solutions of supergravity have been of particular importance in the advances of string theory. This article reviews the current status of black hole solutions in higher-dimensional supergravity theories. We discuss primarily…
We review recent developments concerning supersymmetric black holes in string theory. After a general introduction to the laws of black hole mechanics and to black hole entropy in string theory, we discuss black hole solutions in N=2…
We give an elementary introduction to black holes in supergravity and string theory. The focus is on BPS solutions in four- and higher-dimensional supergravity and string theory. Basic ideas and techniques are explained in detail, including…
We discuss the problem of the motion of classical strings in some black hole and cosmological spacetimes. In particular, the null string limit (zero tension) of tensile strings is considered. We present some new exact string solutions in…
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…
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…
We make some observations regarding string/black hole correspondence with a view to understanding the nature of the quantum degrees of freedom of a black hole in string theory. In particular, we compare entropy change in analogous string…
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…
It is shown that there are static spacetimes with timelike curvature singularities which appear completely nonsingular when probed with quantum test particles. Examples include extreme dilatonic black holes and the fundamental string…
In this review I discuss various aspects of some of the recently constructed black hole and soliton solutions in string theory. I begin with the axionic instanton and related solutions of bosonic and heterotic string theory. The latter…
Extremal six-dimensional black string solutions with some non-trivial momentum distribution along the wave are considered. These solutions were recently shown to contain a singularity at the would-be position of the event horizon. In the…
In this set of lectures I review recent developments in string theory emphasizing their non-perturbative aspects and their recently discovered duality symmetries. The goal of the lectures is to make the recent exciting developments in…
We briefly review three aspects of string cosmology: (1) the ``stochastic'' approach to the pre-big bang scenario, (2) the presence of chaos in the generic cosmological solutions of the tree-level low-energy effective actions coming out of…
Supersymmetric closed string theories contain an infinite tower of BPS-saturated, oscillating, macroscopic strings in the perturbative spectrum. When these theories have dual formulations, this tower of states must exist nonperturbatively…
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…
We review applications of string theory to cosmology, from primordial times to the present-day accelerated expansion. Starting with a brief overview of cosmology and string compactifications, we discuss in detail moduli stabilisation,…