STRING THERMALIZATION AT A BLACK-HOLE HORIZON

Susskind has recently shown that a relativistic string approaching the event horizon of a black hole spreads in both the transverse and long itudinal directions in the reference frame of an outside observer. The transverse spreading can be described as a branching diffusion of wee string bits. This stochastic process provides a mechanism for thermal izing the quantum state of the string as it spreads across the stretch ed horizon.