A Non-Critical String Approach to Black Holes, Time and Quantum Dynamics

Abstract

We review our approach to time and quantum dynamics based on non-critical string theory, developing its relationship to previous work on non-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics and the microscopic arrow of time. We exhibit specific non-factorizing contributions to the $\text{nd}S$ matrix associated with topological defects on the world sheet, explaining the rôle that the leakage of $W_{\infty }$ charges plays in the loss of quantum coherence. We stress the analogy with the quantum Hall effect, discuss the violation of $CPT$, and also apply our approach to cosmology.

Comments: CERN-TH.7195/94, 54 pages (references on Lie-admissibility added)