Quantum Dust Black Holes

By analysing the infinite dimensional midisuperspace of spherically symmetric dust universes, and aply it to collapsing dust stars, one finds that the general quantum state is a bound state. This leads to discrete spectrum. In the case of a Schwarzschild black hole, the discrete spectrum implies Bekenstein area quantization: the area of the horizon is an integer multiple of the Planck area. Knowing the microscopic (quantum) states, we suggest a microscopic interpretation of the thermodynamics of black holes: the degeneracy of the quantum states forming a black hole, gives the Bekenstein- Hawking entropy. All other thermodynamical quantities can be derived by using the standard definitions.