Microscopic formulation of black holes in string theory

In this report we review the microscopic formulation of the five-dimensional black hole of type 1113 string theory in terms of the D1-D5 brane system. The emphasis here is more on the brane dynamics than on supergravity solutions. We show how the low energy brane dynamics, combined with crucial inputs from AdS/CFT correspondence, leads to a derivation of black hole thermodynamics and the rate of Hawking radiation. Our approach requires a detailed exposition of the gauge theory and conformal field theory of the D1-D5 system. We also discuss some applications of the AdS/CFT correspondence in the context of black hole formation in three dimensions by thermal transition and by collision of point particles. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.