Stationary Configurations and Geodesic Description of Supersymmetric Black Holes

Abstract

This thesis contains a detailed study of various properties of supersymmetric black holes. In chapter I an overview over some of the fascinating aspects of black hole physics is provided. In particular, the string theory approach to black hole entropy is discussed. One of the consequences of the string theory results is that black hole entropy can be understood within the context of an effective field theory only if one resorts to supergravity theories with higher-order curvature interactions. To this extent, some relevant elements of N=2 supersymmetric theories and supergravity theories are introduced in chapter II. In chapter III N=2 supergravity theories with higher-order curvature interactions are described. Chapter IV contains a classification of the fully supersymmetric vacua and a characterization of a large class of stationary BPS black hole configurations in the presence of higher-derivative interactions. In chapter V the derivation of the macroscopic entropy formula appropriate for theories with higher-order curvature interactions is reviewed and compared to the results of string theory. Furthermore, in the absence of higher-order curvature interactions, the metric on the moduli space of simple multi-centered black hole solutions is calculated. In chapter VI, finally, a formalism to derive the geodesic description of generic gravitational solitons is developed.