3-DIMENSIONAL BLACK-HOLES AND STRING THEORY

The exact decay rate for emission of massless minimally coupled scalar fields by a non-extremal black hole in 2 + 1 dimensions is obtained. At low energy, the decay rate into scalars with zero angular momentum is correctly reproduced within conformal field theory. The conformal f ield theory has both left-and right-moving sectors and their contribut ion to the decay rate is associated naturally with left and right temp eratures of the black hole. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.