Minimal surfaces and weak gravity

Calabi-Yau manifolds (algebro-geometric aspects) (14J32) Applications of differential geometry to physics (53Z05) String and superstring theories; other extended objects (e.g., branes) in quantum field theory (81T30) Dimensional compactification in quantum field theory (81T33) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05)

Abstract: We show that the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) implies a nontrivial upper bound on the volumes of the minimal-volume cycles in certain homology classes that admit no calibrated representatives. In compactification of type IIB string theory on an orientifold

X

of a Calabi-Yau threefold, we consider a homology class

[S i g m a] i n H_{4} (X, m a t h b b Z)

represented by a union

S i g m a_{c u p}

of holomorphic and antiholomorphic cycles. The instanton form of the WGC applied to the axion charge

[S i g m a]

implies an upper bound on the action of a non-BPS Euclidean D3-brane wrapping the minimal-volume representative

S i g m a_{m a t h r m m i n}

of

[S i g m a]

. We give an explicit example of an orientifold

X

of a hypersurface in a toric variety, and a hyperplane

m a t h c a l H s u b s e t H_{4} (X, m a t h b b Z)

, such that for any

[S i g m a] i n H

that satisfies the WGC, the minimal volume obeys

m a t h r m V o l (S i g m a_{m a t h r m m i n}) l l m a t h r m V o l (S i g m a_{c u p})

: the holomorphic and antiholomorphic components recombine to form a much smaller cycle. In particular, the sub-Lattice WGC applied to

X

implies large recombination, no matter how sparse the sublattice. Non-BPS instantons wrapping

S i g m a_{m a t h r m m i n}

are then more important than would be predicted from a study of BPS instantons wrapping the separate components of

S i g m a_{c u p}

. Our analysis hinges on a novel computation of effective divisors in

X

that are not inherited from effective divisors of the toric variety.

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