Multi-black holes and instantons in effective string theory.pdf

a r X i v : g r - q c / 9 6 0 7 0 3 6 v 1 1 6 J u l 1 9 9 6 May 1996 INFNCA-TH9611 Multi-black holes and instantons in effective string theory S. Demelio Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Universita? di Cagliari via Ospedale 72, 09124 Cagliari, Italy S. Mignemi Dipartimento di Matematica, Universita? di Cagliari viale Merello 92, 09123 Cagliari, Italy The effective action for string theory which takes into account non-minimal coupling of moduli admits multi-black hole solutions. The euclidean continuation of these solutions can be interpreted as an instanton mediating the splitting and recombination of the throat of extremal magnetically charged black holes. 1. Introduction String theories are presently considered one of the most promising candidates for a theory of quantum gravity. It is therefore natural that their implications on the theory of gravity and especially on black holes had been widely investigated. Since at the moment the formalism of string theories cannot deal directly with these problems, this has usually been done by means of field theoretical low-energy effective actions, which correct the action of general relativity by the addition of non-minimally coupled scalar fields, such as the dilaton or moduli fields. On the other hand, if the gravitational field is described by a quantum theory, its topology should fluctuate at Planck length scales [1]. A first approximation to these effects should therefore be obtained in the context of a euclidean path integral formalism [2]. In this formalism a fundamental role is played by finite action regular solutions of the classical field equations, interpolating between different topological sectors. These configurations give the main contribution to the path integral in the context of a semiclassical approximation. It is then worthwhile to consider this approach in the context of effective string theory. Unfortunately, however, very little is known about gravitational instanton solutions of effec- tive st