Near-horizon conformal symmetry and black hole entropy.
Near an event horizon, the action of general relativity acquires a new asymptotic conformal symmetry. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, this symmetry results in a chiral Virasoro algebra, and Cardy's formula for the density of states reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This lends support to the notion that black hole entropy is controlled universally by conformal symmetry near the horizon.
Carlip
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Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. carlip@dirac.ucdavis.edu