Related papers: Bounds on Species Scale and the Distance Conjectur…
In a quantum theory of gravity, the species scale $\Lambda_s$ can be defined as the scale at which corrections to the Einstein action become important or alternatively as codifying the "number of light degrees of freedom", due to the fact…
The counting of the number of light modes in a gravitational theory is captured by the notion of the `species scale', which serves as an effective UV cutoff below the Planck scale. We propose to define a moduli-dependent species scale in…
The species scale provides an upper bound for the ultraviolet cutoff of effective theories of gravity coupled to a number of light particle species. We point out that modular invariant (super-)potentials provide a simple and computable…
We present a novel way in which effective field theory (EFT) can break down in cosmological string backgrounds depending on the behavior of the quantum gravity cutoff in infinite distance limits, known as the species scale $\Lambda_s$.…
The concept of the species scale as the quantum gravity cut-off has been recently emphasised in the context of the Swampland program. Along these lines, we continue the quest for a precise understanding of its role within effective field…
Infinite distance limits in the moduli space of a quantum gravity theory are characterized by having infinite towers of states becoming light, as dictated by the Distance Conjecture in the Swampland program. These towers imply a drastic…
We provide a moduli-dependent definition of species scale in quantum gravity based on black hole arguments. Concretely, it is derived from of a lower bound on the entropy of extremal black holes with higher curvature corrections, which…
The most natural expectation away from asymptotic limits in moduli space of supergravity theories is the desert scenario, where there are few states between massless fields and the quantum gravity cutoff. In this paper we initiate a…
The species scale is a field-dependent UV cut-off for any effective field theory weakly coupled to gravity. In this letter we show that, in the context of inflationary cosmology, a detection of primordial gravitational waves will set an…
The Swampland Distance Conjecture (SDC) states that, as we move towards an infinite distance point in moduli space, a tower of states becomes exponentially light with the geodesic distance in any consistent theory of Quantum Gravity.…
As a cutoff scale of quantum gravity, the species scale can be defined by the scale at which the perturbativity of the non-renormalizable gravitational interaction begins to break down. Since it is determined by the number of species in the…
The 'Species Scale' has proved to be an important concept when studying consistent effective actions in Quantum Gravity. This is a short summary of my contribution to the Corfu Summer Institute in September 2025, in which I covered two…
In the context of quantum gravitational systems, we place bounds on regions in field space with slowly varying positive potentials. Using the fact that $V<\Lambda_s^2$, where $\Lambda_s(\phi)$ is the species scale, and the emergent string…
The scale at which quantum gravity becomes manifest, the species scale $\Lambda_s$, has recently been argued to take values parametrically lower than the Planck scale. We use black holes of vanishing horizon area (small black holes) in…
Quantum gravity (QG) has a natural cutoff given by the Planck scale $M_{\rm pl}$. However, it is known that the EFT of gravity can break down at a lower scale, the species scale $\Lambda_s\lesssim M_{\rm pl}$, if there are light species of…
We analyze a large class of four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ low-energy realizations of the axiverse satisfying various quantum gravity constraints. We propose a novel upper bound on the ultimate UV cutoff of the effective theory, namely…
We analyze the one-loop effects of massive fields on 2-to-2 scattering processes involving gravitons. It has been suggested that in the presence of gravity, any local effective field theory description must break down at the "species…
We study infinite-distance limits in the moduli space of perturbative string vacua. The remarkable interplay of string dualities seems to determine a highly non-trivial dichotomy, summarized by the emergent string conjecture, by which in…
As a quantum gravity cut-off, the species scale $\Lambda_s$ gets naturally compared to the energy scale of a scalar potential $V$ in an EFT. In this note, we compare the species scale, its rate $|\nabla \Lambda_s|/\Lambda_s$ and their field…
Recently the notion that quantum gravity effects could manifest at scales much lower than the Planck scale has seen an intense Swamplandish revival. Dozens of works have explored how the so-called species scale -- at which an effective…