Arithmetic of N=8 black holes

Abstract

The microscopic formula for the degeneracies of 1/8 BPS black holes in type II string theory compactified on a six dimensional torus can be expressed as a sum of several terms. One of the terms is a function of the Cremmer-Julia invariant and gives the leading contribution to the entropy in the large charge limit. The other terms, which give exponentially subleading contribution, depend not only on the Cremmer-Julia invariant, but also on the arithmetic properties of the charges, and in fact exist only when the charges satisfy special arithmetic properties. We identify the origin of these terms in the macroscopic formula for the black hole entropy, based on quantum entropy function, as the contribution from non-trivial saddle point(s) in the path integral of string theory over the near horizon geometry. These saddle points exist only when the charge vectors satisfy the arithmetic properties required for the corresponding term in the microscopic formula to exist. Furthermore the leading contribution from these saddle points in the large charge limit agrees with the leading asymptotic behaviour of the corresponding term in the degeneracy formula.