Although there is direct experimental evidence for the existence of black holes from the recent measurements of gravitational waves, black holes are still mysterious objects from the theoretical point of view.

According to the seminal work of Stephen Hawking, all information about the collapsing matter that forms a black hole is lost during the evaporation of Hawking radiation. This loss of information is in sharp conflict with the rules of quantum mechanics. It is also closely related to the no hair theorem of classical black holes, which states a black hole cannot carry any other quantum numbers other than its mass, charge or its angular momentum.

Hence it is mandatory to understand in a quantum theory of gravity what are the carriers of information in a black hole and which kind of quantum hair can be attributed to black holes.

In this talk, I will first review how the quantum entropy of black holes emerges in string theory. Furthermore I will also discuss a complementary picture for the hair of neutral Schwarzschild black holes. This part is based on some recent developments related to asymptotic symmetries in gravity. Finally I give some remarks on black holes as quantum computers.

Dieter Lüst自2004年起在慕尼黑大学任数学物理全职教授，同时担任德国马克斯·普朗克物理学研究所主任，研究领域主要为弦理论。2000年，Lüst教授获德国科研最高奖“莱布尼茨奖”。该奖是目前世界上奖金额度最高的科学奖项之一，在德国学界地位仅次于诺贝尔奖。