1996/12/31 by Gary T. Horowitz, Joseph Polchinski · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.55.6189
published as Phys.Rev.D55:6189-6197,1997 · 24 pages, one typo corrected
arxiv created 1997/04/04 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
For most black holes in string theory, the Schwarzschild radius in string units decreases as the string coupling is reduced. We formulate a correspondence principle, which states that (i) when the size of the horizon drops below the size of a string, the typical black hole state becomes a typical state of strings and D-branes with the same charges, and (ii) the mass does not change abruptly during the transition. This provides a statistical interpretation of black hole entropy. This approach does not yield the numerical coefficient, but gives the correct dependence on mass and charge in a wide range of cases, including neutral black holes.