Measuring the $W$-hair of String Black Holes

Abstract

We have argued previously that the infinitely many gauge symmetries of string theory provide an infinite set of conserved (gauge) quantum numbers ($W$-hair) which characterise black hole states and maintain quantum coherence. Here we study ways of measuring the $W$-hair of spherically-symmetric four-dimensional objects with event horizons, treated as effectively two-dimensional string black holes. Measurements can be done either through the s-wave scattering of light particles off the string black-hole background, or through interference experiments of Aharonov-Bohm type. In the first type of measurement, selection rules