Related papers: A Gravitino Distance Conjecture
We consider the conditions necessary for obtaining perturbative maximal supergravity in d dimensions as a decoupling limit of type II superstring theory compactified on a (10 -- d)-torus. For dimensions d = 2 and d = 3 it is possible to…
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…
In this article, we investigate the mathematical relationship between a (3+1) dimensional gravity model inside Anti-de Sitter space $\rm AdS_4$, and a (2+1) dimensional superconducting system on the asymptotically flat boundary of $\rm…
It would be extremely useful to know whether a particular low energy effective theory might have come from a compactification of a higher dimensional space. Here, this problem is approached from the ground up by considering theories with…
In the context of 4d effective gravity theories with 8 supersymmetries, we propose to unify, strenghten, and refine the several swampland conjectures into a single statement: the structural criterion, modelled on the structure theorem in…
We study a Type IIB isotropic toroidal compactification with non-geometric fluxes. Under the assumption of a hierarchy on the moduli, an effective scalar potential is constructed showing a runaway direction on the real part of the K\"ahler…
We study the effect of anomalous U(1) gauge groups in string theory compactification with fluxes. We find that, in a gauge invariant formulation, consistent AdS vacua appear breaking spontaneously supergravity. Non vanishing D-terms from…
Cosmological issues of the gravitino production by the decay of a heavy scalar field $X$ are examined, assuming that the damped coherent oscillation of the scalar once dominates the energy of the universe. The coupling of the scalar field…
We provide a simple macroscopic analysis of the four-dimensional effective supergravity of the Ho\v{r}ava-Witten M-theory which is expanded in powers of $\kappa^{2/3}/\rho V^{1/3}$ and $\kappa^{2/3}\rho/V^{2/3}$ where $\kappa^2$, $V$ and…
We show how the spontaneous breaking of local N=1 supersymmetry and of the SU(2)xU(1) gauge symmetry can be simultaneously realized, with naturally vanishing tree-level vacuum energy, in superstring effective supergravities. Both the…
We analyse the scalar curvature of the vector multiplet moduli space $\mathcal{M}^{\rm VM}_X$ of type IIA string theory compactified on a Calabi--Yau manifold $X$. While the volume of $\mathcal{M}^{\rm VM}_X$ is known to be finite, cases…
Multi-parametric families of AdS$_{4}$ vacua with various amounts of supersymmetry and residual gauge symmetry are found in the $\,[\textrm{SO}(1,1) \times \textrm{SO}(6)] \ltimes \mathbb{R}^{12}\,$ maximal supergravity that arises from the…
The AdS/CFT correspondence, or more generally the gauge/gravity duality, is a remarkable conjecture obtained from superstring theory with various D-brane backgrounds. According to this conjecture, a higher-dimensional curved space-time…
A new dark sector consisting of a pure non-abelian gauge theory has no renormalizable interaction with SM particles, and can thereby realise gravitational Dark Matter (DM). Gauge interactions confine at a scale $\Lambda_{\rm DM}$ giving…
Motivated by quantum gravity and the CFT Distance Conjecture, we study infinite-distance limits in four-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal field theories with higher-dimensional conformal manifolds and their AdS duals. We focus on…
Self-interacting massive particles with spin $\geq 1$ unavoidably violate unitarity; the question is at what scale. For spin-$1$ the strong coupling scale (at which perturbative unitarity is lost) cannot be raised by any finite tuning of…
AdS2 has an SL(2,R) isometry group. It is argued that in the context of quantum gravity on AdS2 this group is enlarged to the full infinite-dimensional 1+1 conformal group. Massive scalar fields are coupled to AdS2 gravity and shown to have…
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…
It has been notoriously difficult to construct a meta-stable de Sitter (dS) vacuum in string theory in a controlled approximation. This suggests the possibility that meta-stable dS belongs to the swampland. In this paper, we propose a…
A discussion of the number of degrees of freedom, and their dynamical properties, in higher derivative gravitational theories is presented. The complete non-linear sigma model for these degrees of freedom is exhibited using the method of…