Gravitational Entropy and String Bits on the Stretched Horizon

Abstract

We show that the entropy of Schwarzschild black holes in any dimension can be described by a gas of free string bits at the stretched horizon. The number of string bits is equal to the black hole entropy and energy dependent. For an asymptotic observer the bit gas is at the Hawking temperature. We show that the same description is also valid for de Sitter space--times in any dimension.