Related papers: The String Landscape and the Swampland
We discuss one of the generic spacetime consequences of having (1,0) worldsheet supersymmetry in tachyon-free string theory, namely the appearance of a ``misaligned supersymmetry'' in the corresponding spacetime spectrum. Misaligned…
Implications of string-string dualities to cosmological string vacua are discussed. Cosmological vacua of classical string theories comprise of disjoint classses mapped one another by scale-factor T-duality. Each classes are, however,…
We consider a class of conformal models describing closed strings in axially symmetric stationary magnetic flux tube backgrounds. These models are closed string analogs of the Landau model of a particle in a magnetic field or the model of…
Just comparing with the scenario that the (3+1)-dimensional "real world" of the Calabi-Yau compactification has a tremendous landscape, we conjecture that a (4+1)-dimensional holographic theory may also hold a landscape of its vacua. Unlike…
In a recent paper [1] we showed that N=1 supersymmetric QCD in the presence of certain superpotential deformations has a rich landscape of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric vacua. In this paper we embed this theory in string theory as a…
Theories with a large number of long-lived metastable vacua are our only concrete explanation for the puzzling value of the Cosmological Constant (CC). The energy scales where these vacua are realized are unknown. In this work, we consider…
Recent astronomical observations indicate that the universe is accelerating. We argue that generic quintessence models that accommodate the present day acceleration tend to accelerate eternally. As a consequence the resulting spacetimes…
We investigate the problem of derivation of consistent equations of motion for the massive spin 2 field interacting with gravity within both field theory and string theory. In field theory we derive the most general classical action with…
The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously as one changes the vacuum on the Coulomb branch of gauge theories with extended supersymmetry in four dimensions. We show that…
We investigate the validity of the assertion that eternal inflation populates the landscape of string theory. We verify that bubble solutions do not satisfy the Klein Gordon equation for the landscape potential. Solutions to the landscape…
We argue that quintessence may reside in certain corners of the string landscape. It arises as a linear combination of internal space components of higher rank forms, which are axion-like at low energies, and may mix with 4-forms after…
The weak gravity conjecture has been proposed as a criterion to distinguish the landscape from the swampland in string theory. As an application in cosmology of this conjecture, we use it to impose theoretical constraint on parameters of…
We consider a quantum field theory on a spherically symmetric quantum space time described by loop quantum gravity. The spin network description of space time in such a theory leads to equations for the quantum field that are discrete. We…
The space of four dimensional string and $M$ theory vacua with non-Abelian gauge symmetry, chiral fermions and unbroken supersymmetry beyond the electroweak scale appears to be a disconnected space whose different components represent…
We evolve our Multiverse Blueprints to characterize our local neighborhood of the String Landscape and the Multiverse of plausible string, M- and F-theory vacua. Building upon the tripodal foundations of i) the Flipped SU(5) Grand Unified…
Attempts to construct string derived effective field theory models realizing large field inflation are plagued by control issues. Targeted at a broader audience, in this article we review recent progress in isolating the underlying…
Dimensional reduction has proven to be a surprisingly powerful tool for delineating the boundary between the string landscape and the swampland. Bounds from the Weak Gravity Conjecture and the Repulsive Force Conjecture, for instance, are…
It is generally considered as self evident that the lifetime of our vacuum in the landscape of string theory cannot be much shorter than the current age of the universe. Here I show why this lower limit is invalid. A certain type of…
String Theory is the result of the conjunction of three conceptually independent elements: (i) the metaphysical idea of a nomological unity of the forces, (ii) the model-theoretical paradigm of Quantum Field Theory, and (iii) the conflict…
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…