Membrane Horizons: The Black Hole's New Clothes

This thesis addresses some classical and semi-classical aspects of black holes using an effective membrane representation of the event horizon. The classical "membrane paradigm" equations are derived from an underlying action formulation, even though the equations are dissipative. It is shown how the membrane action can also account for the hole's entropy, including the numerical factor. Two short derivations of Hawking radiation are then presented, the first based on particles in a dynamical geometry and the second on the membrane. The calculations obey conservation laws and lead to a correction to the thermal spectrum. Finally, a possible Penrose diagram for the formation and evaporation of a charged black hole is given, with the property that the post-evaporation spacetime is predictable from initial conditions, provided that the dynamics of the time-like singularity can be calculated.