Conformal affine Toda model of two-dimensional black holes: The end-point state and the S matrix.

In this paper we investigate a dilaton-gravity theory, which can be viewed as an SL(2) conformal affine Toda (CAT) theory. This new model is inspired by some previous work by Bilal, Callan, and de Alwis. The main results obtained in our approach are (i) a field redefinition of the CAT basis in terms of which it is possible to get the black hole solutions already known in the literature, and (ii) an investigation of the scattering matrix problem for the quantum black hole states. Given the validity of our assumptions, there is a range of values of the N free-falling shock matter fields forming the black hole solution, for which the end-point state of the black hole evaporation is a zero temperature regular remnant geometry. The quantum evolution to this final state seems to be nonunitary, in agreement with Hawking's scenario for black hole evaporation. © 1993 The American Physical Society