Conformal description of horizon's states

The existence of black hole horizon is considered as a boundary condition to be imposed on the fluctuating metrics. The coordinate invariant form of the condition for class of spherically symmetric metrics is formulated. The diffeomorphisms preserving this condition act in (arbitrary small) vicinity of the horizon and form the group of conformal transformations of two-dimensional space ($r-t$ sector of the total space-time). The corresponding algebra recovered at the horizon is one copy of the Virasoro algebra. For general relativity in $d$ dimensions we find an effective two-dimensional theory governing the conformal dynamics at the horizon universally for any $d\geq 3$. The corresponding Virasoro algebra has central charge $c$ proportional to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. Identifying the zero-mode configuration we calculate $L_0$. The counting of states of this horizon's conformal field theory by means of Cardy's formula is in complete agreement with the Bekenstein-Hawking expression for the entropy of black hole in $d$ dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, latex, no figures; the final version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Space Noncommutativity Corrections to the Cardy-Verlinde Formula

In this letter we compute the corrections to the Cardy-Verlinde formula of Schwarzschild black holes. These corrections stem from the space noncommutativity. Because the Schwarzschild black holes are non rotating, to the first order of perturbative calculations, there is no any effect on the properties of black hole due to the noncommutativity of space.Comment: 7 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Horizon State, Hawking Radiation and Boundary Liouville Model

We demonstrate that the near-horizon physics, the Hawking radiation and the reflection off the radial potential barrier, can be understood entirely within a conformal field theory picture in terms of one- and two-point functions in the boundary Liouville theory. An important element in this demonstration is the notion of {\it horizon state}, the Hawking radiation being interpreted as a result of the transition of horizon state to the ordinary states propagating outside black hole horizon.Comment: Revtex, 5pages; final version to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Triple-horizon spherically symmetric spacetime and holographic principle

We present a family of spherically symmetric spacetimes, specified by the density profile of a vacuum dark energy, which have the same global structure as the de Sitter spacetime but the reduced symmetry which leads to a time-evolving and spatially inhomogeneous cosmological term. It connects smoothly two de Sitter vacua with different values of cosmological constant and corresponds to anisotropic vacuum dark fluid defined by symmetry of its stress-energy tensor which is invariant under the radial boosts. This family contains a special class distinguished by dynamics of evaporation of a cosmological horizon which evolves to the triple horizon with the finite entropy, zero temperature, zero curvature, infinite positive specific heat, and infinite scrambling time. Non-zero value of the cosmological constant in the triple-horizon spacetime is tightly fixed by quantum dynamics of evaporation of the cosmological horizon.Comment: Honorable Mentioned Essay - Gravity Research Foundation 2012; submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Black Hole Attractors and the Topological String

A simple relationship of the form Z_BH = |Z_top|^2 is conjectured, where Z_BH is a supersymmetric partition function for a four-dimensional BPS black hole in a Calabi-Yau compactification of Type II superstring theory and Z_top is a second-quantized topological string partition function evaluated at the attractor point in moduli space associated to the black hole charges. Evidence for the conjecture in a perturbation expansion about large graviphoton charge is given. The microcanonical ensemble of BPS black holes can be viewed as the Wigner function associated to the wavefunction defined by the topological string partition function.Comment: 32 pages, harvma

Central Charge for AdS_2 Quantum Gravity

Two-dimensional Maxwell-dilaton quantum gravity on AdS_2 with radius $\ell$ and a constant electric field E is studied. In conformal gauge, this is equivalent to a CFT on a strip. In order to maintain consistent boundary conditions, the usual conformal diffeomorphisms must be accompanied by a certain U(1) gauge transformation. The resulting conformal transformations are generated by a twisted stress tensor, which has a central charge $c={3k E^2 \ell^4/4}$ where k is the level of the U(1) current. This is an AdS_2 analog of the Brown-Henneaux formula $c = 3\ell/2G$ for the central charge of quantum gravity on AdS_3

Microscopic Entropy of N=2 Extremal Black Holes

String theory is used to compute the microscopic entropy for several examples of black holes in compactifications with $N=2$ supersymmetry. Agreement with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy and the moduli-independent $N=2$ area formula is found in all cases.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, uses harvma

What We Don't Know about BTZ Black Hole Entropy

With the recent discovery that many aspects of black hole thermodynamics can be effectively reduced to problems in three spacetime dimensions, it has become increasingly important to understand the ``statistical mechanics'' of the (2+1)-dimensional black hole of Banados, Teitelboim, and Zanelli (BTZ). Several conformal field theoretic derivations of the BTZ entropy exist, but none is completely satisfactory, and many questions remain open: there is no consensus as to what fields provide the relevant degrees of freedom or where these excitations live. In this paper, I review some of the unresolved problems and suggest avenues for their solution.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, no figures; references added, brief discussion of relation to string theory added; to appear in Class. Quant. Gra

Wilson loops in large N field theories

We propose a method to calculate the expectation values of an operator similar to the Wilson loop in the large N limit of field theories. We consider N=4 3+1 dimensional super-Yang-Mills. The prescription involves calculating the area of a fundamental string worldsheet in certain supergravity backgrounds. We also consider the case of coincident M-theory fivebranes where one is lead to calculating the area of M-theory two-branes. We briefly discuss the computation for 2+1 dimensional super-Yang-Mills with sixteen supercharges which is non-conformal. In all these cases we calculate the energy of quark-antiquark pair.Comment: 12 pages, harvmac. v2: sign in eqn. (5.6) corrected, v3 typo correcte

D-brane recoil

It is shown that there are logarithmic operators in D-brane backgrounds that lead to infrared divergences in open string loop amplitudes. These divergences can be cancelled by changing the closed string background by operators that correspond to the D-brane moving with constant velocity after some instant in time, since it is precisely such operators that give rise to the appropriate ultraviolet divergences in the closed string channel.Comment: Plain TeX, 5 page