Related papers: Relaxion Monodromy and the Weak Gravity Conjecture
We show that the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) implies a nontrivial upper bound on the volumes of the minimal-volume cycles in certain homology classes that admit no calibrated representatives. In compactification of type IIB string theory…
In this paper, we investigate axion physics in 4D F-theory MSSM models. We derive the axion coupling term with QCD gauge fields and the axion potential from a top-down perspective, from both IIB superstring and the dual M-theory picture.…
A new relaxion mechanism is proposed where a small electroweak scale is preferably selected earlier than the larger one due to a potential instability, which is different from previously proposed stopping mechanisms by either Hubble…
We discuss quantum gravitational effects in Einstein theory coupled to periodic axion scalars to analyze the viability of several proposals to achieve superplanckian axion periods (aka decay constants) and their possible application to…
There exists some tension on large scales between the Planck data and the LCDM concordance model of the Universe, which has been amplified by the recently claimed discovery of non-zero tensor to scalar ratio $r$. At the same time, the…
The weakly-coupled heterotic string is known to have problems of dilaton/moduli stabilization, supersymmetry breaking (by hidden-sector gaugino condensation), gauge coupling unification (or the Newton's constant), QCD axion, as well as…
We study properties of moduli stabilization in the four dimensional N = 1 supergravity theory with heavy moduli and would-be saxion-axion multiplets including light string-theoretic axions. We give general formulation for the scenario that…
We search for effective axions with super-Planckian decay constants in type IIB string models. We argue that such axions can be realised as long winding trajectories in complex-structure moduli space by an appropriate flux choice. Our main…
The Weak Gravity Conjecture imposes stringent constraints on effective field theories to allow for an ultraviolet completion within quantum gravity. While substantial evidence supports the conjecture across broad classes of string…
We derive constraints facing models of axion inflation based on decay constant alignment from a string-theoretic and quantum gravitational perspective. In particular, we investigate the prospects for alignment and `anti-alignment' of $C_4$…
The Weak Gravity Conjecture is typically stated as a bound on the mass-to-charge ratio of a particle in the theory. Alternatively, it has been proposed that its natural formulation is in terms of the existence of a particle which is…
We study the dynamics of axion-like fields in F-theory and suggest that they can serve as inflatons in models of natural inflation. The axions arise from harmonic three-forms on the F-theory compactification space and parameterize a complex…
The Weak Gravity Conjecture has recently been re-formulated in terms of a particle with non-negative self-binding energy. Because of the dual conformal field theory (CFT) formulation in the anti-de Sitter space the conformal dimension…
We discuss the role of Minkowski 3-forms in flux string vacua. In these vacua all internal closed string fluxes are in one to one correspondence with quantized Minkowski 4-forms. By performing a dimensional reduction of the $D=10$ Type II…
We discuss new mechanisms to stop the relaxion field during inflation. They can be realized in a generic model, including the original model but in a quite different parameter region. We consider a fast-rolling relaxion field, which can go…
We consider the most general effective action for the four-form fluxes in the Standard Model coupled to gravity. The Higgs mass parameter can be relaxed to a correct value due to the four-form coupling to the Higgs field and it stops…
The natural constraints for the weak-field approximation to composite gravity, which is obtained by expressing the gauge vector fields of the Yang-Mills theory based on the Lorentz group in terms of tetrad variables and their derivatives,…
We construct the dual supergravity description of strongly coupled, large $N$, eight-supercharge gauge theories with fundamental hypermultiplets at points on the mixed Coulomb-Higgs branch. With certain assumptions about unknown couplings…
Because the inflationary mechanism is extremely sensitive to UV-physics, the construction of theoretically robust models of inflation provides a unique window on Planck-scale physics. We review efforts to use an axion with a shift symmetry…
Even though the Standard Model (SM) is weakly coupled at the Fermi scale, a new strong dynamics involving its degrees of freedom may conceivably lurk at slightly higher energies, in the multi TeV range. Approximate symmetries provide a…