Black Hole Microstates and Attractor Without Supersymmetry

TL;DR

This paper argues that the entropy of extremal black holes in string theory remains consistent across different moduli values, even without supersymmetry, supported by examples and potential caveats.

Contribution

It introduces a non-supersymmetric approach to matching black hole entropy with microscopic calculations using the attractor mechanism.

Findings

Entropy matches across moduli in supported examples

The approach applies to non-supersymmetric extremal black holes

Potential caveats could challenge the argument

Abstract

Due to the attractor mechanism, the entropy of an extremal black hole does not vary continuously as we vary the asymptotic values of various moduli fields. Using this fact we argue that the entropy of an extremal black hole in string theory, calculated for a range of values of the asymptotic moduli for which the microscopic theory is strongly coupled, should match the statistical entropy of the same system calculated for a range of values of the asymptotic moduli for which the microscopic theory is weakly coupled. This argument does not rely on supersymmetry and applies equally well to nonsupersymmetric extremal black holes. We discuss several examples which support this argument and also several caveats which could invalidate this argument.