Abstract
Near an event horizon, the action of general relativity acquires a new asymptotic conformal symmetry. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, this symmetry results in a chiral Virasoro algebra, and Cardy’s formula for the density of states reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This lends support to the notion that black hole entropy is controlled universally by conformal symmetry near the horizon.
- Received 4 March 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.241301
©2002 American Physical Society