1995/11/09 by Finn Larsen, Frank Wilczek · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/0370-2693(96)00220-1
published as Phys.Lett. B375 (1996) 37-42 · 15 pages, no figures, Phyzzx
arxiv created 1995/11/09 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We present a number of qualitative arguments which strongly suggest that extremal dyonic black holes in the 4--dimensional low energy, classical field theory limit of toroidally compactified heterotic string theory represent largely degenerate classes of states in the quantum theory. We propose a simple expression for the full non--perturbative degeneracy, which contains no free continuous parameters and reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking S=A\over 4GN in the large-area limit (with the 1\over 4 arising from microphysics). We sketch the elements of a physical picture leading to this expression: the holes support much hair, such that in counting it we are led to an effective string theory, and a matching condition whose solutions give the degeneracy.