Related papers: Tensionless Strings and the Weak Gravity Conjectur…
We propose a framework where the string scale as well as all compact dimensions are at the electroweak scale $\sim$ TeV$^{-1}$. The weakness of gravity is attributed to the small value of the string coupling $g_s \sim 10^{-16}$, presumably…
The effective action for type II string theory compactified on a six torus is $N=8$ supergravity, which is known to have an $E_{7}$ duality symmetry. We show that this is broken by quantum effects to a discrete subgroup, $E_7(\Z)$, which…
We study universal features of the density of one-particle states $\rho(E)$ in weakly coupled theories of gravity at energies above the quantum gravity cutoff $\Lambda$, defined as the scale suppressing higher-derivative corrections to the…
Recently, Kim, Shiu and Vafa proposed general consistency conditions for six dimensional supergravity theories with minimal supersymmetry coming from couplings to strings. We test them in explicit perturbative orientifold models in order to…
{}From the ordinary tensile string we derive a geometric action for the tensionless ($T=0$) string and discuss its symmetries and field equations. The Weyl symmetry of the usual string is shown to be replaced by a global space-time…
In recent literature, it has been argued that a mild form of the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) is satisfied by wide classes of effective field theories in which higher-derivative corrections can be shown to shift the charge-to-mass ratios…
I review the relations between mass scales in various string theories and in M-theory. I discuss physical motivations and possible consistent realizations of large volume compactifications and low string scale. Large longitudinal…
We use type I string models with supersymmetry broken by compactification (\`a la Scherk-Schwarz) in order to test the weak gravity conjecture in the presence of runaway potentials in a perturbative string theory setting. For a finite value…
We examine the minimal constraints imposed by the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) on the particle spectrum of a quantum gravity theory. Towers of super-extremal states have previously been argued to be required for consistency of the WGC…
We investigate the global structure of the states becoming light at perturbative limits of 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ string and M-theory compactifications, identifying the different duality frames that emerge asymptotically and how they fit…
We review the theory and phenomenology of effective supergravity theories based on orbifold compactifications of the weakly-coupled heterotic string. In particular, we consider theories in which the four-dimensional theory displays target…
The cosmological observations provide a strong evidence that there is a positive cosmological constant in our universe and thus the spacetime is asymptotical de Sitter space. The conjecture of gravity as the weakest force in the…
We spell out the derivation of novel features, put forward earlier in a letter, of two dimensional gravity in the strong coupling regime, at $C_L=7$, 13, 19. Within the operator approach previously developed, they neatly follow from the…
Gravity duals for little string theories --- which give rise to four-dimensional theories that undergo permanent confinement in the infrared --- have not been studied in great detail. We address this question in the framework of heterotic…
We derive new positivity bounds for scattering amplitudes in theories with a massless graviton in the spectrum in four spacetime dimensions, of relevance for the weak gravity conjecture and modified gravity theories. The bounds imply that…
We investigate infinite distance limits in the complex structure moduli space of F-theory compactified on K3 to eight dimensions. While this is among the simplest possible arenas to test ideas about the Swampland Distance Conjecture, it is…
We consider an eleven dimensional supergravity compactified on $K3\times T^2$ and show that the resulting five dimensional theory has identical massless states as that of heterotic string compactified on a specific five torus $T^5$. The…
We explore BPS strings in supergravity theories in six-dimensions and related Swampland Conjectures. We first propose a general modular ansatz for bootstrapping elliptic genera of 2d worldvolume theories on strings in the 6d theories. By…
The Weak Gravity Conjecture postulates the existence of superextremal charged particles, i.e. those with mass smaller than or equal to their charge in Planck units. We present further evidence for our recent observation that in known…
Certain four-dimensional $N=4$ supersymmetric theories have special vacua in which massive charged vector supermultiplets become massless, resulting in an enhanced non-abelian gauge symmetry. We show here that any two $N=4$ theories having…