Horizons, Constraints, and Black Hole Entropy

Black hole entropy appears to be “universal”—many independent calculations, involving models with very different microscopic degrees of freedom, all yield the same density of states. I discuss the proposal that this universality comes from the behavior of the underlying symmetries of the classical theory. To impose the condition that a black hole be present, we must partially break the classical symmetries of general relativity, and the resulting Goldstone-boson-like degrees of freedom may account for the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy. In particular, I demonstrate that the imposition of a “stretched horizon” constraint modifies the algebra of symmetries at the horizon, allowing the use of standard conformal field theory techniques to determine the asymptotic density of states. The results reproduce the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy without any need for detailed assumptions about the microscopic theory.