Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture
Abstract The swampland distance conjecture (SDC) addresses the ability of effective field theory to describe distant points in moduli space. It is natural to ask whether there is a local version of the SDC: is it possible to construct local excitations in an EFT that sample extreme regions of moduli...
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2020-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2020)133 |
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| author | Patrick Draper Szilard Farkas |
| author_facet | Patrick Draper Szilard Farkas |
| author_sort | Patrick Draper |
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| description | Abstract The swampland distance conjecture (SDC) addresses the ability of effective field theory to describe distant points in moduli space. It is natural to ask whether there is a local version of the SDC: is it possible to construct local excitations in an EFT that sample extreme regions of moduli space? In many cases such excitations exhibit horizons or instabilities, suggesting that there are bounds on the size and structure of field excitations that can be achieved in EFT. Static bubbles in ordinary Kaluza-Klein theory provide a simple class of examples: the KK radius goes to zero on a smooth surface, locally probing an in- finite distance point, and the bubbles are classically unstable against radial perturbations. However, it is also possible to stabilize KK bubbles at the classical level by adding flux. We study the impact of imposing the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) on these solutions, finding that a rapid pair production instability arises in the presence of charged matter with q/m ≳ 1. We also analyze 4d electrically charged dilatonic black holes. Small curvature at the horizon imposes a bound log (MBH) ,≳ |∆𝜙|, independent of the WGC, and the bound can be strengthened if the particle satisfying the WGC is sufficiently light. We conjecture that quantum gravity in asymptotically flat space requires a general bound on large localized moduli space excursions of the form |∆𝜙| ≲ | log(RΛ)|, where R is the size of the minimal region enclosing the excitation and Λ−1 is the short-distance cutoff on local EFT. The bound is qualitatively saturated by the dilatonic black holes and Kaluza-Klein monopoles. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-638229faa87a4441acc17dbb7dadd5d9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
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| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-638229faa87a4441acc17dbb7dadd5d92025-02-09T12:06:23ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792020-01-012020111710.1007/JHEP01(2020)133Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecturePatrick Draper0Szilard Farkas1Department of Physics, University of IllinoisDepartment of Physics, University of IllinoisAbstract The swampland distance conjecture (SDC) addresses the ability of effective field theory to describe distant points in moduli space. It is natural to ask whether there is a local version of the SDC: is it possible to construct local excitations in an EFT that sample extreme regions of moduli space? In many cases such excitations exhibit horizons or instabilities, suggesting that there are bounds on the size and structure of field excitations that can be achieved in EFT. Static bubbles in ordinary Kaluza-Klein theory provide a simple class of examples: the KK radius goes to zero on a smooth surface, locally probing an in- finite distance point, and the bubbles are classically unstable against radial perturbations. However, it is also possible to stabilize KK bubbles at the classical level by adding flux. We study the impact of imposing the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) on these solutions, finding that a rapid pair production instability arises in the presence of charged matter with q/m ≳ 1. We also analyze 4d electrically charged dilatonic black holes. Small curvature at the horizon imposes a bound log (MBH) ,≳ |∆𝜙|, independent of the WGC, and the bound can be strengthened if the particle satisfying the WGC is sufficiently light. We conjecture that quantum gravity in asymptotically flat space requires a general bound on large localized moduli space excursions of the form |∆𝜙| ≲ | log(RΛ)|, where R is the size of the minimal region enclosing the excitation and Λ−1 is the short-distance cutoff on local EFT. The bound is qualitatively saturated by the dilatonic black holes and Kaluza-Klein monopoles.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2020)133Black HolesEffective Field TheoriesField Theories in Higher DimensionsModels of Quantum Gravity |
| spellingShingle | Patrick Draper Szilard Farkas Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture Journal of High Energy Physics Black Holes Effective Field Theories Field Theories in Higher Dimensions Models of Quantum Gravity |
| title | Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture |
| title_full | Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture |
| title_fullStr | Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture |
| title_short | Transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture |
| title_sort | transplanckian censorship and the local swampland distance conjecture |
| topic | Black Holes Effective Field Theories Field Theories in Higher Dimensions Models of Quantum Gravity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2020)133 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT patrickdraper transplanckiancensorshipandthelocalswamplanddistanceconjecture AT szilardfarkas transplanckiancensorshipandthelocalswamplanddistanceconjecture |