Related papers: $H_0$ tension and the String Swampland
We make the case that there can be no low-redshift solution to the $H_0$ tension. To robustly answer this question, we use a very flexible parameterization for the dark energy equation of state such that every cosmological distance still…
We systematically analyse weak coupling limits for 2-form tensor fields in the presence of gravity. Such limits are significant for testing various versions of the Weak Gravity and Swampland Distance Conjectures, and more broadly, the…
In this note, we study the Swampland Distance Conjecture in TCS $G_2$ manifold compactifications of M-theory. In particular, we are interested in testing a refined version -- the Emergent String Conjecture, in settings with 4d $N=1$…
We prove a version of the Weak Gravity Conjecture for 6d F-theory or heterotic string compactifications with 8 supercharges. This sharpens our previous analysis by including massless scalar fields. The latter are known to modify the Weak…
We construct solutions of type IIB supergravity with non-trivial Ramond-Ramond 5-form in ten dimensions by replacing the transverse flat space of pp-wave backgrounds with exact $N=(4,4)$ $c=4$ superconformal field theory blocks. These…
An analysis is given of interacting dark energy and dark matter where the dark energy is assumed to be an ultralight axionic field with a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Boson potential which is in general a superposition of $N$ number of cosine…
We present a comprehensive analysis of the $\Lambda_{\rm s}$CDM model, which explores the recent conjecture suggesting a rapid transition of the Universe from anti-de Sitter vacua to de Sitter vacua (viz., the cosmological constant switches…
The $H_0$ tension between low- and high- redshift measurements is definitely a serious issue faced by current cosmologists since it ranges from 4$\sigma$ to 6$\sigma$. To relieve this tension, in this paper we propose a new interacting dark…
We present the idea that replacing the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ in the $\Lambda$CDM model by a distribution of walls, with very low tension compared to what one would expect from new physics, could help explaining the tension in the…
We consider a phenomenological model of dark matter with an equation-of-state $w$ that is negative and changing at late times. We show this couples the $H_{0}$ and $S_{8}$ tensions, alleviating them both simultaneously, reducing the $H_{0}$…
We describe a new type of generalized gravity-matter models where $f(R)=R+R^2$ gravity couples in a non-conventional way to a scalar "inflaton" field, to a second scalar "darkon" field responsible for dark energy/dark matter unification, as…
There is a persistent $H_0$-tension, now at more than $\gtrsim 4\sigma$ level, between the local distance ladder value and the \emph{Planck} cosmic microwave background measurement, in the context of flat $\Lambda$CDM model. We reconstruct…
The Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) and the Low Energy Effective Field Theory (LEFT) can be extended by adding additional spin 0, 1/2 and 1 dark matter particles which are singlets under the Standard Model (SM) gauge group. We…
The subject of this thesis is cosmological implications of string compactifications understood in a broad sense. In the first half of the thesis, we will begin by reviewing the four-dimensional description of the tree-level perturbative…
We present an effective field theory describing the relevant interactions of the Standard Model with an electrically neutral particle that can account for the dark matter in the Universe. The possible mediators of these interactions are…
We investigate the effective theory of type IIA string theory on six-dimensional orientifold backgrounds with SU(2)-structure. We focus on the case of orientifolds with O6-planes, for which we compute the bosonic effective action in the…
We continue the study of a class of string-motivated effective supergravity theories in light of current data from the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In this installment we consider Type IIB string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau…
The swampland program of delineating the space of effective field theories consistent with quantum gravity appears similar to the bootstrap program of delineating the space of quantum field theories consistent with conformal symmetry. With…
Models of dark sectors with a mass threshold can have important cosmological signatures. If, in the era prior to recombination, a relativistic species becomes nonrelativistic and is then depopulated in equilibrium, there can be measurable…
A dynamical model for the dark energy is presented in which the ``quintessence'' field is the axion, $a_Z$, of a spontaneously broken global $U(1)_{A}^{(Z)}$ symmetry whose potential is induced by the instantons of a new gauge group…