STRING THEORY AND THE PRINCIPLE OF BLACK-HOLE COMPLEMENTARITY

String theory provides an example of the kind of apparent inconsistency that the principle of black hole complementarity deals with. To a freely infalling observer a string falling through a black hole horizon appears to be a Planck size object. To an outside observer the string and all the information it carries begin to spread as the string approaches the horizon. In a time of order the ''information retention time'' it fills the entire area of the horizon.