arXiv · gr-qc/9912118
Black Hole Entropy from Horizon Conformal Field Theory
Abstract
String theory and ``quantum geometry'' have recently offered independent statistical mechanical explanations of black hole thermodynamics. But these successes raise a new problem: why should models with such different microscopic degrees of freedom yield identical results? I propose that the asymptotic behavior of the density of states at a black hole horizon may be determined by an underlying symmetry inherited from classical general relativity, independent of the details of quantum gravity. I offer evidence that a two-dimensional conformal symmetry at the horizon, with a classical central extension, may provide the needed behavior.
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S. Carlip. 1999-12-29. Black Hole Entropy from Horizon Conformal Field Theory. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0920-5632(00)00748-9
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