Black Hole Entropy from Horizon Conformal Field Theory

Preprint

29 December 1999

preprint
Published by arXiv in arXiv

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.gr-qc/9912118

Abstract

String theory and ``quantum geometry'' have recently offered independent statistical mechanical explanations of black hole thermodynamics. But these successes raise a new problem: why should models with such different microscopic degrees of freedom yield identical results? I propose that the asymptotic behavior of the density of states at a black hole horizon may be determined by an underlying symmetry inherited from classical general relativity, independent of the details of quantum gravity. I offer evidence that a two-dimensional conformal symmetry at the horizon, with a classical central extension, may provide the needed behavior.

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All Related Versions

Version 1, 1999-12-29, ArXiv
Published version: Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements, 88 (1-3), 10.

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