Entropy of N = 2 black holes and their M-brane description

In this paper we discuss the M-brane description for a N = 2 black hole. This solution is a result of the compactification of M-5-brane configurations over a CalabiYau threefold with arbitrary intersection numbers CABC . In analogy to the D-brane description where one counts open string states we count here open M-2-branes which end on the M-5-brane. a e-mail: behrndt@qft2.physik.hu-berlin.de b e-mail: mohaupt@qft2.physik.hu-berlin.de 1. Introduction It has been an open question for long time what kind of states are associated with the Bekenstein--Hawking entropy of black holes. In string theory we came a major step closer in answering this question. Many black holes can be embedded into type II string theory as intersections of D-branes. In this picture the horizon of the black hole becomes the surface of these branes. This opens the possibility to identify the microscopic states we are looking for with the open string states ending on the D-branes. This way it was possible to ..