Remarks on Black Hole Degrees of Freedom in String Theory

Abstract

The Bekenstein-Hawking black hole area entropy law suggests that the quantum degrees of freedom of black holes may be realized as projections of quantum states unto the event horizon of the black hole. In this paper, we provide further evidence for this interpretation in the context of string theory. In particular, we argue that increase in the quantum entropy due to the capture of infalling fundamental strings appears in the form of horizon degrees of freedom.Comment: 14 pages, harvmac (reference added, typos corrected