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Andrew Strominger

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew Strominger.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

Semiclassical decay of near extremal fivebranes

We argue that a near-extremal charge-$k$ type II NS fivebrane can be reliably described in semiclassical string perturbation theory as long as both $k$ and $μ\over k$ are large, where $μ$ is the energy density in string units. For a small value of the asymptotic string coupling $g$, the dynamics in the throat surrounding the fivebrane reduces to the CGHS model with massive fields. We find that the energy density leaks off the brane in the form of Hawking radiation at a rate of order $1 \over k^{7/2}$ in string units independently of $g$ to leading order. In the $g\to 0$ limit the radiation persists but never reaches asymptotic infinity because the throat becomes infinitely long.

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Loop Corrections to the Universal Hypermultiplet

The universal hypermultiplet arises as a subsector of every Calabi-Yau compactification of M-theory or Type II string theory. Classically its moduli space is the quaternionic space $SU(2,1)/U(2)$. We show that this moduli space receives a one-loop correction proportional to the Euler character of the Calabi-Yau, which can locally be absorbed by a certain constant shift of the fields. The correction vanishes in the limit that the Planck mass is taken to infinity, and hence is essentially gravitational in nature.

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Universal Low-Energy Dynamics for Rotating Black Holes

Fundamental string theory has been used to show that low energy excitations of certain black holes are described by a two dimensional conformal field theory. This picture has been found to be extremely robust. In this paper it is argued that many essential features of the low energy effective theory can be inferred directly from a semiclassical analysis of the general Kerr-Newman solution of supersymmetric four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell gravity, without using string theory. We consider the absorption and emission of scalars with orbital angular momentum, which provide a sensitive probe of the black hole. We find that the semiclassical emission rates -including superradiant emission and greybody factors - for such scalars agree in striking detail with those computed in the effective conformal field theory, in both four and five dimensions. Also the value of the quantum mass gap to the lowest-lying excitation of a charge-$Q$ black hole, $E_{gap}=1/8Q^3$ in Planck units, can be derived without knowledge of fundamental string theory.

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Probing Five-Dimensional Black Holes with D-Branes

We consider a one-brane probe in the presence of a five-dimensional black hole in the classical limit. The velocity-dependent force on a slowly-moving probe is characterized by a metric on the probe moduli space. This metric is computed for large black holes using low-energy supergravity, and for small black holes using D-brane gauge theory. The results are compared.

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Black Hole Greybody Factors and D-Brane Spectroscopy

Black holes do not Hawking radiate strictly blackbody radiation due to well-known frequency-dependent greybody factors. These factors arise from frequency-dependent potential barriers outside the horizon which filter the initially blackbody spectrum emanating from the horizon. D-brane bound states, in a thermally excited state corresponding to near-extremal black holes, also do not emit blackbody radiation: The bound state radiation spectrum encodes the energy spectrum of its excitations. We study a near-extremal five-dimensional black hole. We show that, in a wide variety of circumstances including both neutral and charged emission, the effect of the greybody filter is to transform the blackbody radiation spectrum precisely into the bound state radiation spectrum. Implications of this result for the information puzzle in the context of near-extremal black hole dynamics are discussed.

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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.

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Statistical Hair on Black Holes

The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for certain BPS-saturated black holes in string theory has recently been derived by counting internal black hole microstates at weak coupling. We argue that the black hole microstate can be measured by interference experiments even in the strong coupling region where there is clearly an event horizon. Extracting information which is naively behind the event horizon is possible due to the existence of statistical quantum hair carried by the black hole. This quantum hair arises from the arbitrarily large number of discrete gauge symmetries present in string theory.

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Mirror Symmetry is T-Duality

It is argued that every Calabi-Yau manifold $X$ with a mirror $Y$ admits a family of supersymmetric toroidal 3-cycles. Moreover the moduli space of such cycles together with their flat connections is precisely the space $Y$. The mirror transformation is equivalent to T-duality on the 3-cycles. The geometry of moduli space is addressed in a general framework. Several examples are discussed.

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Nonextremal Black Hole Microstates and U-duality

A six-parameter family of five-dimensional black hole solutions is constructed which are labeled by their mass, two asymptotic scalar fields and three charges. It is shown that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is exactly matched, arbitrarily far from extremality, by a simple but mysterious duality-invariant extension of previously derived formulae for the number of D-brane states in string theory.

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Macroscopic Entropy of $N=2$ Extremal Black Holes

Extremal BPS-saturated black holes in $N=2$, $d=4$ supergravity can carry electric and magnetic charges $(q^Λ_{(m)},q_Λ^{(e)})$. It is shown that in smooth cases the moduli fields at the horizon take a fixed "rational" value $X^Λ(q_{(m)},q^{(e)})$ which is determined by the charges and is independent of the asymptotic values of the moduli fields. A universal formula for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is derived in terms of the charges and the moduli space geometry at $X^Λ(q_{(m)},q^{(e)})$. This work extends previous results of Ferrara, Kallosh and the author for the pure magnetic case.

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N=2 Extremal Black Holes

It is shown that extremal magnetic black hole solutions of N = 2 supergravity coupled to vector multiplets $X^Λ$ with a generic holomorphic prepotential $F(X^Λ)$ can be described as supersymmetric solitons which interpolate between maximally symmetric limiting solutions at spatial infinity and the horizon. A simple exact solution is found for the special case that the ratios of the $X^Λ$ are real, and it is seen that the logarithm of the conformal factor of the spatial metric equals the Kahler potential on the vector multiplet moduli space. Several examples are discussed in detail.

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Counting States of Near-Extremal Black Holes

A six-dimensional black string is considered and its Bekenstein-Hawking entropy computed. It is shown that to leading order above extremality, this entropy precisely counts the number of string states with the given energy and charges. This identification implies that Hawking decay of the near-extremal black string can be analyzed in string perturbation theory and is perturbatively unitary.

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Open P-Branes

It is shown that many of the $p$-branes of type II string theory and $d=11$ supergravity can have boundaries on other $p$-branes. The rules for when this can and cannot occur are derived from charge conservation. For example it is found that membranes in $d=11$ supergravity and IIA string theory can have boundaries on fivebranes. The boundary dynamics are governed by the self-dual $d=6$ string. A collection of $N$ parallel fivebranes contains $\half N(N-1)$ self-dual strings which become tensionless as the fivebranes approach one another.

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New Vacua for Type II String Theory

Lorentz-invariant expectation values for antisymmetric tensor field strengths in Calabi-Yau compactification of IIA string theory are considered. These are found to impart magnetic and/or electric charges to the dilaton hypermultiplet. This results in a potential which can have supersymmetric minima at zero coupling or at conifold points in the moduli space. The latter occurs whenever the dilaton charge is aligned with that of the light black hole at the conifold. It is shown that there is a flat direction extending from the conifold along which there is a black hole condensate whose strength is of order the string coupling $g_s$. It is speculated that these new vacua correspond to string compactification on generalized Calabi-Yau spaces which have $c_1=0$ but are not Kahler.

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Fivebranes, Membranes and Non-Perturbative String Theory

Non-perturbative instanton corrections to the moduli space geometry of type IIA string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau space are derived and found to contain order $e^{-1/g_s}$ contributions, where $g_s$ is the string coupling. The computation reduces to a weighted sum of supersymmetric extremal maps of strings, membranes and fivebranes into the Calabi-Yau space, all three of which enter on equal footing. It is shown that a supersymmetric 3-cycle is one for which the pullback of the Kähler form vanishes and the pullback of the holomorphic three-form is a constant multiple of the volume element. Quantum mirror symmetry relates the sum in the IIA theory over supersymmetric, odd-dimensional cycles in the Calabi-Yau space to a sum in the IIB theory over supersymmetric, even-dimensional cycles in the mirror.

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Black Hole Condensation and the Unification of String Vacua

It is argued that black hole condensation can occur at conifold singularities in the moduli space of type II Calabi--Yau string vacua. The condensate signals a smooth transition to a new Calabi--Yau space with different Euler characteristic and Hodge numbers. In this manner string theory unifies the moduli spaces of many or possibly all Calabi--Yau vacua. Elementary string states and black holes are smoothly interchanged under the transitions, and therefore cannot be invariantly distinguished. Furthermore, the transitions establish the existence of mirror symmetry for many or possibly all Calabi--Yau manifolds.

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