The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings

Abstract Strong (sublattice or tower) formulations of the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) imply that, if a weakly coupled gauge theory exists, a tower of charged particles drives the theory to strong coupling at an ultraviolet scale well below the Planck scale. This tower can consist of low-spin state...

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Autores principales:	Ben Heidenreich, Matthew Reece, Tom Rudelius
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	SpringerOpen 2021
Materias:	Effective Field Theories Gauge Symmetry Models of Quantum Gravity String theory and cosmic strings Nuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. Radioactivity QC770-798
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/fb9a069285dc4c9aa05ea90b84c95b80
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:fb9a069285dc4c9aa05ea90b84c95b802021-11-08T11:16:21ZThe Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings10.1007/JHEP11(2021)0041029-8479https://doaj.org/article/fb9a069285dc4c9aa05ea90b84c95b802021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2021)004https://doaj.org/toc/1029-8479Abstract Strong (sublattice or tower) formulations of the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) imply that, if a weakly coupled gauge theory exists, a tower of charged particles drives the theory to strong coupling at an ultraviolet scale well below the Planck scale. This tower can consist of low-spin states, as in Kaluza-Klein theory, or high-spin states, as with weakly-coupled strings. We provide a suggestive bottom-up argument based on the mild p-form WGC that, for any gauge theory coupled to a fundamental axion through a θF ∧ F term, the tower is a stringy one. The charge-carrying string states at or below the WGC scale gM Pl are simply axion strings for θ, with charged modes arising from anomaly inflow. Kaluza-Klein theories evade this conclusion and postpone the appearance of high-spin states to higher energies because they lack a θF ∧ F term. For abelian Kaluza-Klein theories, modified arguments based on additional abelian groups that interact with the Kaluza-Klein gauge group sometimes pinpoint a mass scale for charged strings. These arguments reinforce the Emergent String and Distant Axionic String Conjectures. We emphasize the unproven assumptions and weak points of the arguments, which provide interesting targets for further work. In particular, a sharp characterization of when gauge fields admit θF ∧ F couplings and when they do not would be immensely useful for particle phenomenology and for clarifying the implications of the Weak Gravity Conjecture.Ben HeidenreichMatthew ReeceTom RudeliusSpringerOpenarticleEffective Field TheoriesGauge SymmetryModels of Quantum GravityString theory and cosmic stringsNuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. RadioactivityQC770-798ENJournal of High Energy Physics, Vol 2021, Iss 11, Pp 1-24 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Effective Field Theories Gauge Symmetry Models of Quantum Gravity String theory and cosmic strings Nuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. Radioactivity QC770-798
spellingShingle	Effective Field Theories Gauge Symmetry Models of Quantum Gravity String theory and cosmic strings Nuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. Radioactivity QC770-798 Ben Heidenreich Matthew Reece Tom Rudelius The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings
description	Abstract Strong (sublattice or tower) formulations of the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) imply that, if a weakly coupled gauge theory exists, a tower of charged particles drives the theory to strong coupling at an ultraviolet scale well below the Planck scale. This tower can consist of low-spin states, as in Kaluza-Klein theory, or high-spin states, as with weakly-coupled strings. We provide a suggestive bottom-up argument based on the mild p-form WGC that, for any gauge theory coupled to a fundamental axion through a θF ∧ F term, the tower is a stringy one. The charge-carrying string states at or below the WGC scale gM Pl are simply axion strings for θ, with charged modes arising from anomaly inflow. Kaluza-Klein theories evade this conclusion and postpone the appearance of high-spin states to higher energies because they lack a θF ∧ F term. For abelian Kaluza-Klein theories, modified arguments based on additional abelian groups that interact with the Kaluza-Klein gauge group sometimes pinpoint a mass scale for charged strings. These arguments reinforce the Emergent String and Distant Axionic String Conjectures. We emphasize the unproven assumptions and weak points of the arguments, which provide interesting targets for further work. In particular, a sharp characterization of when gauge fields admit θF ∧ F couplings and when they do not would be immensely useful for particle phenomenology and for clarifying the implications of the Weak Gravity Conjecture.
format	article
author	Ben Heidenreich Matthew Reece Tom Rudelius
author_facet	Ben Heidenreich Matthew Reece Tom Rudelius
author_sort	Ben Heidenreich
title	The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings
title_short	The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings
title_full	The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings
title_fullStr	The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings
title_full_unstemmed	The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings
title_sort	weak gravity conjecture and axion strings
publisher	SpringerOpen
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/fb9a069285dc4c9aa05ea90b84c95b80
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The Weak Gravity Conjecture and axion strings

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