Related papers: Fine Tuning, Sequestering, and the Swampland
Effective field theories (EFT) parameterize the long-distance effects of short-distance dynamics whose details may or may not be known. It is known that EFT coefficients must obey certain positivity constraints if causality and unitarity…
We give Swampland constraints on the three dimensional Landscape of Anti-de Sitter higher spin gravity in the Chern-Simons formulation with connection valued in various split real forms of Lie algebras. We derive the finiteness conjecture…
It has been shown that at the semi-classical order, gravitational theories with quantum fluctuations can be effectively recast as modified theories of gravity with non-minimal gravity-matter couplings. We proceed from an observational…
We introduce an effective field theory (EFT) for conformal impurity by considering a pair of transversely displaced impurities and integrating out modes with mass inversely proportional to the separation distance. This EFT captures the…
When a physicist says that a theory is fine-tuned, they mean that it must make a suspiciously precise assumption in order to explain a certain observation. This is evidence that the theory is deficient or incomplete. One particular case of…
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…
Multiple scalar fields appear in vast modern particle physics and gravity models. When they couple to gravity non-minimally, conformal transformation is utilized to bring the theory into Einstein frame. However, the kinetic terms of scalar…
There are many possible gravitational applications of an effective approach to Quantum Field Theory (QFT) in curved space. We present a brief review of effective approach and discuss its impact for such relevant issues as the cosmological…
Known examples of unitary relativistic scale but not conformal-invariant field theories (SFTs) can be embedded into conventional conformal field theories (CFTs). We show that any SFT which is a subsector of a unitary CFT is a free theory.…
In order to validate or invalidate a large class of low energy effective theories, the Swampland conjecture has attracted significant attention, recently. It can be stated as inequalities on the potential of a scalar field which is…
We unveil a remarkable interplay between rigid field theories (RFTs), charge-to-mass ratios $\gamma$ and scalar curvature divergences $\mathsf{R}_{\rm div}$ in the vector multiplet moduli space of 4d ${\cal N}=2$ supergravities, obtained…
We argue that the finiteness of quantum gravity amplitudes in fully compactified theories (at least in supersymmetric cases) leads to a bottom-up prediction for the existence of non-trivial dualities. In particular, finiteness requires the…
The Swampland Distance Conjecture claims that effective theories derived from a consistent theory of quantum gravity only have a finite range of validity. This will imply drastic consequences for string theory model building. The refined…
We present a mean-field approach for accurately describing strong correlations via electron number fluctuations and pairings constrained to an active space. Electron number conservation is broken and correct only on average but both spin…
Quantum field theory in a semiclassical background can be derived as an approximation to quantum gravity from a weak-coupling expansion in the inverse Planck mass. Such an expansion is studied for evolution on "nice-slices" in the spacetime…
We extend effective field theory to the case of spontaneous symmetry breaking in genuinely finite quantum systems such as small superfluid systems, molecules or atomic nuclei, and focus on deformed nuclei. In finite superfluids, symmetry…
We argue that any proposed quantum theory of gravity with non-trivial cobordism classes in the space of configurations belongs to the Swampland. The argument is based on the assumption that there are no global symmetries in a consistent…
There have been many attempts to construct de Sitter space-times in string theory. While arguably there have been some successes, this has proven challenging, leading to the de Sitter swampland conjecture: quantum theories of gravity do not…
We investigate the prospects for constraining alternative theories of gravity with a typical near-term low-budget 21 cm intensity mapping experiment. We derive the 21 cm brightness temperature perturbation consistently in linear theory…
Multifield models with a curved field space have already been shown to be able to provide viable quintessence models for steep potentials that satisfy swampland bounds. The simplest dynamical systems of this type are obtained by coupling…