Reply to the comment by Park and Ho

TL;DR

This paper responds to a critique of a previous work on deriving black hole entropy from horizon conformal field theory, clarifying that the criticism does not alter the original conclusions which were verified through an alternative formalism.

Contribution

It clarifies the validity of the original derivation of black hole entropy despite partial criticism and confirms the results using a different formalism.

Findings

Original derivation remains valid despite incomplete surface term

Results confirmed using a covariant formalism

Criticism does not affect the main conclusions

Abstract

This is a reply to a recent comment (hep-th/9910158) by Park and Ho on a paper (hep-th/9812013) that describes a derivation of black hole entropy from horizon conformal field theory. The criticism of Park and Ho is partially correct - the original paper did not give the complete surface term in the Hamiltonian - but it does not affect the conclusions, which have been checked using a somewhat different, manifestly covariant formalism (gr-qc/9906126).