Related papers: Quantum gravity constraints on scale separation an…
We address the possibility of false vacuum decay in $N=1$ supergravity theories, including those corresponding to superstring vacua. By establishing a Bogomol'nyi bound for the energy density stored in the domain wall of the $O(4)$…
It is well known that in the weak coupling regime, quantum field theories in de Sitter space do not have a unique vacuum, but a class of vacua parametrized by a complex parameter $\alpha$, i.e., the so-called $\alpha$-vacua. In this…
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…
Recently a swampland criterion has been proposed that rules out de Sitter vacua in string theory. Such a criterion should hold at all points in the field space and especially at points where the system is on-shell. However there has not…
We present results from a detailed study of spherically symmetric Einstein-massless-scalar field dynamics with a negative cosmological constant in four to nine spacetime dimensions. This study is the first to present a detailed examination…
We classify maximally supersymmetric backgrounds (vacua) of chiral (1,0) and (2,0) supergravities in six dimensions and, by reduction, also those of the minimal N=2 supergravity in five dimensions. Up to R-symmetry, the (2,0) vacua are in…
de Sitter space-time has a one complex parameter family of invariant vacua for the theory of a free, massive scalar field. For most of these vacua, in an interacting scalar theory the one loop corrections diverge linearly for large values…
It is shown how metastable de Sitter vacua might arise from heterotic M-theory. The balancing of its two non-perturbative effects, open membrane instantons against gaugino condensation on the hidden boundary, which act with opposing forces…
Up-to-date, there is no known example of a classical de Sitter solution of string theory, despite several good candidates. We consider here two newly discovered 10d supergravity de Sitter solutions, and analyse in great detail whether they…
We construct purely non-perturbative anti-de Sitter vacua in string theory which, on uplifting to a de Sitter (dS) one, have a decay time many orders of magnitude smaller than those of standard constructions, such as the KKLT and LVS…
I discuss conceptual issues associated with the presence of metastable AdS vacua in the string landscape. The geometry of the decay from one AdS to another is presented in detail, and various subtleties that are not present for flat or dS…
We investigate supersymmetric extrema of Abelian gauged supergravity theories with non-trivial vector multiplets and 8 supercharges in four and five dimensions. The scalar fields of these models parameterize a manifold consisting of…
$S$-matrix formulation of gravity excludes de Sitter vacua. In particular, this is organic to string theory. The $S$-matrix constraint is enforced by an anomalous quantum break-time proportional to the inverse values of gravitational and/or…
The main obstacle in attempts to construct a consistent quantum gravity is the absence of independent flat time. This can in principle be cured by going out to higher dimensions. The modern paradigm assumes that the fundamental theory of…
We derive necessary criteria for the existence of classical, meta-stable, de Sitter solutions in flux compactifications of type II supergravity down to dimensions higher than four. We find that the possibilities in higher dimensions are…
We consider anti-de Sitter flux vacua interpolated by flux-changing domain walls. Demanding that the tension of such a domain wall be above the ultraviolet cutoff of the effective description, we derive an upper bound on the anti-de Sitter…
In the de Sitter ambient space formalism the massless fields, which include the linear gravity and massless minimally coupled scalar field, can be written in terms of two separate parts: a massless conformally coupled scalar field and a…
Previous work has shown that the macroscopic structure of the theory of quantum gravity defined by causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) is compatible with that of a de Sitter universe. After emphasizing the strictly nonperturbative nature…
The representation theory of de Sitter space admits partially massless (PM) particles, but whether such particles can participate in consistent interacting theories remains unclear. We investigate the consistency of theories containing PM…
We point out that the swampland conjectures, forbidding the presence of global symmetries and (meta-)stable de Sitter vacua within quantum gravity, pick up a dynamical axion for the electroweak SU(2) gauge theory as a natural candidate for…