  In this Report we review the microscopic formulation of the five dimensional
black hole of type IIB string theory in terms of the D1-D5 brane system. The
emphasis here is more on the brane dynamics than on supergravity solutions. We
show how the low energy brane dynamics, combined with crucial inputs from
AdS/CFT correspondence, leads to a derivation of black hole thermodynamics and
the rate of Hawking radiation. Our approach requires a detailed exposition of
the gauge theory and conformal field theory of the D1-D5 system. We also
discuss some applications of the AdS/CFT correspondence in the context of black
hole formation in three dimensions by thermal transition and by collision of
point particles.
