Abstract
Starting from recent observations about quasinormal modes, we use semiclassical arguments to derive the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy spectrum for -dimensional spherically symmetric black holes. We find that, as first suggested by Bekenstein, the entropy spectrum is equally spaced: , where is a fixed integer that must be derived from the microscopic theory. As shown in O. Dreyer, gr-qc/0211076, 4D loop quantum gravity yields precisely such a spectrum with providing the Immirzi parameter is chosen appropriately. For -dimensional black holes of radius , our analysis predicts the existence of a unique quasinormal mode frequency in the large damping limit with coefficient , where is an integer.
- Received 12 December 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.161301
©2003 American Physical Society