Related papers: The Weak Gravity Conjecture and Axion Strings
Positivity bounds coming from consistency of UV scattering amplitudes are in general insufficient to prove the weak gravity conjecture for theories beyond Einstein-Maxwell. Additional ingredients about the UV may be necessary to exclude…
The gravitational fields of vacuumless global and gauge strings have been investigated in the context of Einstein Cartan theory under the weak field assumption of the field equations. It has been shown that global string and gauge string…
We propose to study a generalization of the Klebanov-Polyakov-Witten (KPW) construction for the algebra of observables in the $c = 1$ string model to theories with $c > 1$. We emphasize the algebraic meaning of the KPW construction for $c =…
Ultralight scalar dark matter may couple to the Standard Model through dimension-five operators that contain the field-strength tensors of the gauge interactions. Recent progress in nuclear clocks is projected to increase the sensitivity to…
The weakly coupled vacuum of $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory remains an attractive scenario for phenomenolgy and cosmology. The particle spectrum is reviewed and the issues of gauge coupling unification, dilaton stabilization and…
Weak gravity conjecture can be formulated as a statement that gravity must be the weakest force, compared to the other interactions in low energy effective field theory (EFT). Several arguments in favor of this statement were presented from…
We examine the milli-charged dark matter scenario from a string theory perspective. In this scenario, kinetic and mass mixings of the photon with extra U(1) bosons are claimed to give rise to small electric charges, carried by dark matter…
Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali have recently proposed that gravity may become strong at energies near 1 TeV due to the existence of large extra dimensions thus `removing' the hierarchy problem. In this talk we examine the exchange of…
The presence of Kaluza-Klein particles in the universe is a potential manifestation of string theory cosmology. In general, they can be present in the high temperature bath of the early universe. In particular examples, string theory…
The geometrization of the Electro-Weak Model is achieved in a 5-dimensional Riemann-Cartan framework. Matter spinorial fields are extended to 5 dimensions by the choice of a proper dependence on the extra-coordinate and of a normalization…
We investigate the global structure of the states becoming light at perturbative limits of 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ string and M-theory compactifications, identifying the different duality frames that emerge asymptotically and how they fit…
An effective field theory approach is introduced to compute one-loop radiative corrections to the gauge couplings due to Kaluza-Klein states associated with a two-torus compactification. The results are compared with those of the string in…
An $SO(3,3)$ BF-type gauge theory is formulated on a six-dimensional spacetime of split signature $(3,3)$, interpreted as the pre-electroweak-symmetry-breaking phase. A MacDowell--Mansouri-type symmetry breaking to $SU(2)\times SU(2)$ is…
In this addendum we complement the remarks made in ref[1] constraining the value of the cosmological constant $\Lambda_4$ in terms of neutrino masses. Those were based on a sharpened version of the Weak Gravity Conjecture as applied to…
Geometrically non-Higgsable seven-branes carry gauge sectors that cannot be broken by complex structure deformation, and there is growing evidence that such configurations are typical in F-theory. We study strongly coupled physics…
Point particles fall freely along geodesics; strings do not. In string theory all probes of spacetime structure, including photons, are extended objects and therefore always subject to tidal forces. We illustrate how string theory modifies…
We show that the Z-strings of the standard electroweak theory can be stabilized by strong external magnetic fields, provided that $\beta^{1/2} \equiv M_H/M_Z\leq 1$, where $M_H$ and $M_Z$ are the Higgs and Z masses. The magnetic fields…
We perform a Kaluza-Klein inspired rewriting of double field theory by splitting the coordinates into `compact' and `non-compact' directions. There is no truncation of the compact coordinates or their duals, and so this formulation is…
We study a simple axionlike model with a charged scalar $\phi$ and a double-charged scalar $\zeta$ of global $U(1)$ symmetry. A particular feature of our model is that a vacuum manifold is a torus knot. We consider a hierarchical…
The Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) in anti-de Sitter spacetime (AdS) asserts the existence of an operator in the boundary conformal field theory (CFT) whose scaling dimension-to-charge ratio satisfies a certain upper bound. This bound is…