COUNTING SCHWARZSCHILD AND CHARGED BLACK-HOLES

We review the arguments that fundamental string states are in one to o ne correspondence with black hole states. We demonstrate the power of the assumption by showing that it implies that the statistical entropy of a wide class of nonextreme black holes occurring in string theory is proportional to the horizon area, However, the numerical coefficien t relating the area and entropy only agrees with the Bekenstein-Hawkin g formula if the central charge of the string is six which does not co rrespond to any known string theory. Unlike the current D-brane method s the method used in this paper is applicable for the case of Schwarzs child and highly non-extreme charged black holes. (C) 1997 Published b y Elsevier Science B.V.