The weak gravity conjecture and scalar fields

We propose a generalisation of the Weak Gravity Conjecture in the presence of scalar fields. The proposal is guided by properties of extremal black holes in N=2N=2 \mathcal{N}=2 supergravity, but can be understood more generally in terms of forbidding towers of stable gravitationally bound states. I...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Palti, Eran (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: August 9, 2017
In: Journal of high energy physics
Year: 2017, Issue: 8
ISSN:1029-8479
DOI:10.1007/JHEP08(2017)034
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2017)034
Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP08(2017)034
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Author Notes:Eran Palti
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Summary:We propose a generalisation of the Weak Gravity Conjecture in the presence of scalar fields. The proposal is guided by properties of extremal black holes in N=2N=2 \mathcal{N}=2 supergravity, but can be understood more generally in terms of forbidding towers of stable gravitationally bound states. It amounts to the statement that there must exist a particle on which the gauge force acts more strongly than gravity and the scalar forces combined. We also propose that the scalar force itself should act on this particle stronger than gravity. This implies that generically the mass of this particle decreases exponentially as a function of the scalar field expectation value for super-Planckian variations, which is behaviour predicted by the Refined Swampland Conjecture. In the context of N=2N=2 \mathcal{N}=2 supergravity the Weak Gravity Conjecture bound can be tied to bounds on scalar field distances in field space. Guided by this, we present a general proof that for any linear combination of moduli in any Calabi-Yau compactification of string theory the proper field distance grows at best logarithmically with the moduli values for super-Planckian distances.
Item Description:Gesehen am 30.05.2018
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1029-8479
DOI:10.1007/JHEP08(2017)034