Related papers: Discrete Symmetries, Weak Coupling Conjecture and …
We propose the first examples of scale-separated vacua with extended supersymmetry. They arise as circle compactifications of four-dimensional vacua of massive type IIA supergravity with scale separation, upon introducing additional fluxes…
We study the scalar mass matrix of general supersymmetric theories with local gauge symmetries, and derive an absolute upper bound on the lightest scalar mass. This bound can be saturated by suitably tuning the superpotential, and its…
We argue that, in a theory of quantum gravity, the gauge coupling and the confinement scale of a gauge theory are related to distance in the space of metric configurations, and in turn to the cosmological constant. To support the argument,…
The AdS Distance Conjecture proposes to assign a notion of distance between AdS vacua in quantum gravity. We perform some initial developments of this idea. We first propose more sharply how to define a metric on conformal variations of AdS…
Exact discrete symmetries, if non-linearly realized, can reduce the ultraviolet sensitivity of a given theory. The scalars stemming from spontaneous symmetry breaking are massive without breaking the discrete symmetry, and those masses are…
We discuss five-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. An anomaly renders some theories inconsistent and others consistent only upon including a Wess-Zumino type Chern-Simons term. We discuss some necessary conditions for existence of…
We consider 4D maximal $\mathrm{ISO}(7)$ gauged supergravity, which is known to arise from a consistent truncation of massive IIA supergravity on a six-sphere. Within its $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ invariant sector, the theory is known to possess…
We continue our study of the N=1* supersymmetric gauge theory and its relation to elliptic integrable systems. Upon compactification on a circle, we show that the semi-classical analysis of the massless and massive vacua depends on the…
Extremal cubic couplings in AdS relate bulk fields such that $\Delta_i+\Delta_j=\Delta_k$. Such couplings lead to divergent 3-point Witten diagrams, and do not occur in theories with maximal supersymmetry. We consider the simplest theories…
There has been recent interest in new types of topological defects arising in models with compact extra dimensions. We discuss in this context the old statement that if only SU(N) gauge fields and adjoint matter live in the bulk, and the…
We consider massive type IIA orientifold compactifications of the form AdS$_4 \times X_6$, where $X_6$ admits a Calabi-Yau metric and is threaded by background fluxes. From a 4d viewpoint, fluxes generate a potential whose vacua have been…
Gauge coupling unification and the stability of the Higgs vacuum are among two of the cherished features of low-energy supersymmetric models. Putting aside questions of naturalness, supersymmetry might only be realised in nature at very…
We study the scalar curvature $R$ of the vector moduli space of 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravities, obtained by compactifying M-theory on a Calabi--Yau three-fold. We find that $R$ can only diverge at points where some gauge interactions go…
Vacuum compactifications may suffer from instabilities under small perturbations or tunnel effects; both are difficult to analyze. In this paper we consider the issue from a higher-dimensional perspective. We first look at how stability…
We study 4D systems in which parameters of the theory have position dependence in one spatial direction. In the limit where these parameters jump, this can lead to 3D interfaces supporting localized degrees of freedom. A priori, this sort…
Using exceptional field theory we construct supersymmetric warped AdS$_7$ vacua of massive IIA and AdS$_6$ vacua of IIB, as well as their consistent truncations including vector multiplets. We show there are no consistent truncations of…
We prove that stationary Yang$-$Mills fields in dimensions 5 belonging to the variational class of weak connections are smooth away from a closed singular set $S$ of vanishing 1-dimensional Hausdorff measure. Our proof is based on an…
Lorentz-invariant massive gravity is usually associated with a strong coupling scale $\Lambda_3$. By including non-trivial effects from the Stueckelberg modes, we show that about these vacua, one can push the strong coupling scale to higher…
Within a class of superstring vacua which have an additional non-anomalous $U(1)'$ gauge factor, we address the scale of the $U(1)'$ symmetry breaking and constraints on the exotic particle content and their masses. We also show that an…
We consider an infinite class of 5d supersymmetric gauge theories involving products of symplectic and unitary groups that arise from D4-branes at orbifold singularities in Type I' string theory. The theories are argued to be dual to warped…