Related papers: De Sitter vs Quintessence in String Theory
We construct purely non-perturbative anti-de Sitter vacua in string theory which, on uplifting to a de Sitter (dS) one, have a decay time many orders of magnitude smaller than those of standard constructions, such as the KKLT and LVS…
$S$-matrix formulation of gravity excludes de Sitter vacua. In particular, this is organic to string theory. The $S$-matrix constraint is enforced by an anomalous quantum break-time proportional to the inverse values of gravitational and/or…
We consider various candidates for Dark Energy, motivated by string theory. Several no-go theorems push de Sitter string vacua, with $w=-1$, to the limits of theoretical control, and all known examples depend on a delicate interplay between…
We review the prospect of obtaining tree-level de Sitter (dS) vacua and slow-roll inflation models in string compactifications. Restricting ourselves to the closed string sector and assuming the absence of NSNS-sources, we classify the…
Classical 10d string backgrounds with a 4d de Sitter space-time, D-brane and orientifold sources, are commonly believed to satisfy the following: 1. There is no classical de Sitter solution with parallel sources. 2. Classical de Sitter…
It has recently been suggested that "gravity is the weakest force" in any theory with a suitable UV completion within quantum gravity. One formulation of this statement is the scalar weak gravity conjecture, which states that gravity is…
We review various aspects of de Sitter spacetime in string theory: its status as an effective field theory spacetime solution, its relation to the vacuum energy problem in string theory, its (global) holographic definition in terms of two…
Quantum consistency suggests that any de Sitter patch that lasts a number of Hubble times that exceeds its Gibbons-Hawking entropy divided by the number of light particle species suffers an effect of quantum breaking. Inclusion of other…
In these lectures we give a review of recent attempts to understand quantum gravity on de Sitter spaces. In particular, we discuss the holographic correspondence between de Sitter gravity and conformal field theories proposed by Hull and by…
We discuss some basic aspects of effective field theory applied to supergravity theories which arise in the low-energy limit of string theory. Our discussion is particularly relevant to the effective field theories of no-scale…
It has recently been conjectured that string theory does not admit de Sitter critical points. This note points out that in several cases, including KKLT or racetrack models, this statement is equivalent to the absence of supersymmetric…
We consider quintessence models within 4D effective descriptions of gravity coupled to two scalar fields. These theories are known to give rise to viable models of late-time cosmic acceleration without any need for flat potentials, and so…
Recent developments in string theory suggest that string theory landscape of vacua is vast. It is natural to ask if this landscape is as vast as allowed by consistent-looking effective field theories. We use universality ideas from string…
We discuss the cosmological implications of the string swampland conjectures for late-time cosmology, and test them against a wide range of state of the art cosmological observations. The refined de Sitter conjecture constrains either the…
Up-to-date, there is no known example of a classical de Sitter solution of string theory, despite several good candidates. We consider here two newly discovered 10d supergravity de Sitter solutions, and analyse in great detail whether they…
Recent work has suggested a surprising new upper bound on the lifetime of de Sitter vacua in string theory. The bound is parametrically longer than the Hubble time but parametrically shorter than the recurrence time. We investigate whether…
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…
The weak gravity conjecture has been proposed as a criterion to distinguish the landscape from the swampland in string theory. As an application in cosmology of this conjecture, we use it to impose theoretical constraint on parameters of…
We describe how 4d de Sitter vacua might emerge from 11d heterotic M-theory. Non-perturbative effects and $G$-fluxes play a crucial role leading to vacua with F-term supersymmetry breaking and a positive energy density. Charged scalar…
Consistent uplifting of AdS vacua in string theory often requires extra light degrees of freedom in addition to those of a (Kaehler) modulus. Here we consider the possibility that de Sitter and Minkowski vacua arise due to hidden sector…