Black Holes in String Theory
Abstract
Description
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 near-extremal charged black holes arises from counting microscopic configurations. We study black holes in five and four spacetime dimensions. We calculate the Hawking temperature and give a physical picture of the Hawking decay process. Hopefully, the reader will find here a moderately self contained review of D-branes and string theory applied to black hole physics.
Minor changes in the references. 80 pages, 8 figures, uses harvmac
Minor changes in the references. 80 pages, 8 figures, uses harvmac