What is the magnetic Weak Gravity Conjecture for axions?

DOI10.1002/PROP.201700011MaRDI QIDQ5361745zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Philipp Henkenjohann, Lukas T. Witkowski, Arthur Hebecker

Publication date 29 September 2017

Published in Fortschritte der Physik (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.06553

zbMATH Keywords

inflation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of vector bundles and moduli spaces in mathematical physics (twistor theory, instantons, quantum field theory) (14D21) String and superstring theories; other extended objects (e.g., branes) in quantum field theory (81T30) Gravitational interaction in quantum theory (81V17) Unified quantum theories (81V22) Einstein-Maxwell equations (83C22) Asymptotic procedures (radiation, news functions, (mathcal{H} )-spaces, etc.) in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C30) Relativistic cosmology (83F05)

Abstract: The electric Weak Gravity Conjecture demands that axions with large decay constant $f$ couple to light instantons. The resulting large instantonic corrections pose problems for natural inflation. We explore an alternative argument based on the magnetic Weak Gravity Conjecture for axions, which we try to make more precise. Roughly speaking, it demands that the minimally charged string coupled to the dual 2-form-field exists in the effective theory. Most naively, such large-$f$ strings curve space too much to exist as static solutions, thus ruling out large-$f$ axions. More conservatively, one might allow non-static string solutions to play the role of the required charged objects. In this case, topological inflation would save the superplanckian axion. Furthermore, a large-$f$ axion may appear in the low-energy effective theory based on two subplanckian axions in the UV. The resulting effective string is a composite object built from several fundamental strings and domain walls. It may or may not satisfy the magnetic Weak Gravity Conjecture depending on how strictly the latter is interpreted and on the cosmological dynamics of this composite object, which remain to be fully understood. Finally, we recall that large-field brane inflation is naively possible in the codimension-one case. We show how string-theoretic back-reaction closes this apparent loophole of large-$f$ (non-periodic) pseudo-axions.

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Cited in

(44)

• Large-field inflation with multiple axions and the weak gravity conjecture
• On axionic field ranges, loopholes and the weak gravity conjecture
• Relaxion monodromy and the weak gravity conjecture
• Axion monodromy and the weak gravity conjecture
• Transplanckian censorship and global cosmic strings
• A Chern-Simons pandemic
• The weak gravity conjecture and scalar fields
• The weak gravity conjecture and the axionic black hole paradox
• Weak gravity conjecture, multiple point principle and the standard model landscape
• Constraining neutrino masses, the cosmological constant and BSM physics from the weak gravity conjecture
• Flat monodromies and a moduli space size conjecture
• Pole N-flation
• Complexity is simple!
• Scalar fields, hierarchical UV/IR mixing and the Weak Gravity Conjecture
• Warping the weak gravity conjecture
• The weak gravity conjecture and axion strings
• Chern-Weil global symmetries and how quantum gravity avoids them
• Instanton expansions and phase transitions
• Higher-group symmetries and weak gravity conjecture mixing
• On the weak gravity conjecture in string theory with broken supersymmetry
• Infinite distances and the axion weak gravity conjecture
• The EFT stringy viewpoint on large distances
• Instantons and infinite distances
• Emergent/composite axions
• Gravitational instabilities and censorship of large scalar field excursions
• Gauge and gravitational instantons: from 3-forms and fermions to weak gravity and flat axion potentials
• Large field ranges from aligned and misaligned winding
• A holographic derivation of the weak gravity conjecture
• Transplanckian axions!?
• Fencing in the swampland: quantum gravity constraints on large field inflation
• Weak gravity strongly constrains large-field axion inflation
• 4d strings at strong coupling
• Generalized symmetry breaking scales and weak gravity conjectures
• Axionic Festina Lente
• Axion wormholes with massive Dilaton
• Torsion in cohomology and dimensional reduction
• A Tower Weak Gravity Conjecture from Infrared Consistency
• The Swampland: Introduction and Review
• A 10d construction of Euclidean axion wormholes in flat and AdS space
• Confined monopoles and failure of the lattice weak gravity conjecture
• Co-scaling and alignment of electric and magnetic towers
• Implications of the weak gravity conjecture on charge, kinetic mixing, the photon mass, and more
• End-of-the-world branes and inflationary predictions for rocky and swampy landscapes
• Hitchhiker's guide to the swampland: the cosmologist's handbook to the string-theoretical swampland programme

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