Related papers: The FL bound and its phenomenological implications
We derive the first positivity bounds for low-energy Effective Field Theories (EFTs) that are not invariant under Lorentz boosts. "Positivity bounds" are the low-energy manifestation of certain fundamental properties in the UV -- to date…
Minimal $N=1$ supergravity with a radiatively broken electroweak symmetry group is studied in the light gluino scenario. Constraints from the $b\rightarrow s\gamma$ decay and from the masses of the light CP-even neutral Higgs $m_h$, the…
We construct explicit examples of globally regular static, spherically symmetric solutions of general relativity with a phantom scalar field as the source of gravity, describing traversable wormholes with flat asymptotic regions on both…
We derive here a robust bound on the effective number of neutrinos from constraints on primordial nucleosynthesis yields of deuterium and helium. In particular, our results are based on very weak assumptions on the astrophysical…
It was recently shown that in warped compactifications based on a Klebanov-Strassler throat there is a light complex structure field, governing the size of the throat and the redshift at its tip. We show that after uplift of the…
The $N_f$-flavour Schwinger Model on a finite space $0\leq x^1\leq L$ and subject to bag-type boundary-conditions at $x^1=0$ und $x^1=L$ is solved at finite temperature $T=1/\beta$. The boundary conditions depend on a real parameter…
The most general formulation of Penrose's inequality yields a lower bound for ADM mass in terms of the area, charge, and angular momentum of black holes. This inequality is in turn equivalent to an upper and lower bound for the area in…
We expand on the braneworld-black hole de Sitter model introduced in \cite{Rasulian} which is a proposal for constructing an effective de Sitter spacetime with no explicit dependence on brane tension or bulk cosmological constant. In this…
For a light scalar coupled to gravity, I study the gravitational backreaction associated with large field variations. I show a generic obstruction in sourcing a super-Planckian scalar profile without making the whole experiment collapse…
It has been empirically observed that eigenfunctions of Laplace's equation $-\Delta \phi = \lambda \phi$ with Neumann boundary conditions sometimes localize near the boundary of the domain if that boundary is rough (say, fractal). This has…
The swampland distance conjecture (SDC) addresses the ability of effective field theory to describe distant points in moduli space. It is natural to ask whether there is a local version of the SDC: is it possible to construct local…
We study braneworld cosmology in quasi-topological gravity (QTG) with an infinite tower of higher-curvature terms, focusing on the case in which the bulk admits regular black hole solutions. We derive the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric junction…
The magnetic fluxbrane solution with a strongly warped throat is studied in the Type IIA supergravity theory with co-dimension one local source which surves as $Z_{2}$-symmetric UV boundary of the throat. Overall volume of extra space is…
We estimate the rate at which collisions between ultra-high energy cosmic rays can form small black holes in models with extra dimensions. If recent conjectures about false vacuum decay catalyzed by black hole evaporation apply, the lack of…
A scalar field gravitational analog of the Reissner-Nordstrom solution is investigated. The nonlinear Newtonian model has an upper-limit of charge for a central mass which agrees with the general relativistic condition required for the…
We propose that the state represented by the Nariai black hole inside de Sitter space is the ground state of the de Sitter gravity, while the pure de Sitter space is the maximal energy state. With this point of view, we investigate…
Magnetically charged dilatonic black holes have a perturbatively infinite ground state degeneracy associated with an infinite volume throat region of the geometry. A simple argument based on causality is given that these states do not have…
We show that the measured abundance of ultra-faint lensed galaxies at $z\approx 6$ in the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) provides stringent constraints on the parameter space of i) Dark Matter models based on keV sterile neutrinos; ii) the…
The absolute stability of a dark matter (DM) particle is not a binding requirement. Here we suggest a few scenarios where the DM particle is liable to decay via extremely feeble interactions. This can happen via inexplicably small Yukawa…
We apply positivity bounds directly to a $U(1)$ gauge theory with charged scalars and charged fermions, i.e. QED, minimally coupled to gravity. Assuming that the massless $t$-channel pole may be discarded, we show that the improved…