Conformal dynamics of 0-branes

We investigate the dynamics of dilatonic D-dimensional 0-branes in the near-horizon regime. The theory is given in a twofold form: two-dimensional dilaton gravity and the nonlinear sigma model. Using asymptotic symmetries, duality relations, and sigma model techniques we find that the theory has three conformal points which correspond to (a) the asymptotic (anti\char21{}de Sitter) region of the two-dimensional spacetime, (b) the horizon of the black hole, and (c) the infinite limit of the coupling parameter. We show that the conformal symmetry is perturbatively preserved at one loop, identify the corresponding conformal field theories, and calculate the associated central charges. Finally, we use the conformal field theories to explain the thermodynamical properties of the two-dimensional black holes.