dS Vacua Research Articles

Modulus stabilization in the multiple-modulus framework

In a class of modular-invariant models with multiple moduli fields, the viable lepton flavor mixing pattern can be realized if the values of moduli are selected to be at the fixed points. In this paper, we investigate a modulus stabilization mechanism in the multiple-modulus framework which is capable of providing de Sitter (dS) minima precisely at the fixed points τ=i and ω, by taking into consideration nonperturbative effects on the superpotential and the dilaton Kähler potential. Due to the existence of additional Kähler moduli, more possible vacua can occur, and the dS vacua could be the deepest under certain conditions. We classify different choices of vacua and discuss their phenomenological implications for lepton masses and flavor mixing. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Kaluza–Klein tower and bubble nucleation in six dimensional Einstein–Maxwell theory

We study the implication of the distance and the cobordism conjecture on the 6-dimensional Einstein–Maxwell theory compactified on S2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S^2$$\\end{document}. In this toy model, the radion potential is stabilized by the conspiracy of the curvature of S2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S^2$$\\end{document} and the flux through S2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$S^2$$\\end{document} parametrized by f, and uplifted by the positive 6-dimensional cosmological constant parametrized by λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\lambda $$\\end{document}. When λ=0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\lambda =0$$\\end{document}, the radion is stabilized at the anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacuum, which cannot be interpolated to the Minkowski vacuum since the Kaluza–Klein (KK) tower descends from UV in the vanishing limit of the 4-dimensional cosmological constant. For nonzero λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\lambda $$\\end{document} which realizes the metastable de Sitter (dS) vacuum, as well as the AdS and the Minkowski vacuum, such an obstruction can be found provided the combination f2λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$f^2\\lambda $$\\end{document} is fixed and the limit λ→0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\lambda \\rightarrow 0$$\\end{document} is taken. Moreover, the 6-dimensional Einstein–Maxwell theory allows the transition between vacua through the nucleation of the bubble. In this case, the values of the 4-dimensional cosmological constant inside and outside the bubble are different as f is changed at the bubble wall, while λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\lambda $$\\end{document} remains unchanged. Regarding the AdS vacuum with the vanishing curvature radius as the ‘nothing’, we find that the transition from the metastable dS vacuum to the nothing is not prevented by the descent of the KK tower since f2λ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$f^2\\lambda $$\\end{document} is not fixed.

De Sitter-eating O-planes in supercritical string theory

It has been proposed that flux compactifications of supercritical string theories (i.e., with spacetime dimension D > 10) have dS vacua, with large D acting as a control parameter for corrections to the classical spacetime effective action. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the self-consistency of such models, focussing on α′ and backreaction corrections. We first show that all supercritical AdS, Minkowski and dS vacua in this setting have gtrsim mathcal{O}(1) curvature and/or field strengths in the string frame. This may be in tension with suppressing α′ corrections unless the coefficients of the higher-derivative terms have a sufficiently strong large-D suppression. We then argue that an additional and more severe problem arises in the dS case due to the backreaction of O-planes. In particular, we argue using a combination of geometric bounds and string-theory constraints that the O-plane backreaction is large in supercritical dS models. This implies that a large part of the naive classical geometry is eaten up by singular holes and thus indicates a breakdown of the classical description. Our finding resonates with several other recent results suggesting that string theory does not admit dS vacua in regimes where string and backreaction corrections are under control. As byproducts of our analysis, we derive a number of technical results that are useful beyond the specific applications in this paper. In particular, we compute the leading backreaction corrections to the smeared solution in a general flux compactification from D to d dimensions for an arbitrary distribution of O-planes and D-branes. We further argue for a general estimate for Green’s functions on compact manifolds (and therefore for the backreaction corrections) in terms of their diameter, volume and dimension.

Quantum master equation for the vacuum decay dynamics

The quantum master equation required to describe the dynamics of gravity-related vacuum decay is still challenging. We aim to study this issue. Our model consists of the spacetime and scalar field with self-interaction potential. The environment is chosen as spacetime while the system is formed by the vacua of the scalar field. We demonstrate that the quantum dynamics of the vacua can be described by the Redfield equation, which can depict the evolution of both coherence and the comoving volume fraction of the vacuum. Under the Markovian limit, coherence monotonically decreases with time, leading to the initial quantum state to decohere into a classical state. This helps the understanding of the decoherence of the universe. We also highlight that in certain circumstances, the evolution of the vacuum system may display non-Markovian dynamics. In specific scenarios, the classical limit of the quantum master equation is consistent with the classical master equation. In the steady state, the dominant vacuum corresponds to the smallest cosmological constant, and various dS vacua can reach equilibrium states.

(In)stability of de Sitter vacuum in light of distance conjecture and emergence proposal

The distance conjecture claims that as the modulus traverses along the trans-Planckian geodesic distance, the effective field theory becomes invalid by a descent of a tower of states from UV. Moreover, according to the recent (strong version of) emergence proposal, the kinetic term of the modulus is entirely generated by the wavefunction renormalization in which a tower of states are integrated out. Assuming these two conjectures, we explore the role of a tower of states coupled to the modulus in (in)stability of the de Sitter (dS) vacuum by studying the one-loop effective potential generated by a tower of states. We find that a fermionic tower of states makes the effective potential more or less consistent with the dS swampland conjecture: either the slope or the curvature of the potential is sizeable. In contrast, the effective potential generated by a bosonic tower of states seems to allow the stable dS vacuum. Therefore, in order to argue the instability of the dS vacuum, the additional ingredient like supersymmetry breaking needs to be taken into account.

Non-perturbative stabilization of two Kähler moduli in type-IIB/F theory and the inflaton potential

We consider a combination of perturbative and non-perturbative corrections in Kähler moduli stabilizations in the configuration of three magnetised intersecting D7 branes in the type-IIB/F theory, compactified on the 6d orbifold of Calabi-Yau three-fold (CY3). Two of the Kähler moduli are stabilized non-perturbatively, out of the three which get perturbative corrections up to one-loop–order multi-graviton scattering amplitudes in the large volume scenario. In this framework, the dS vacua are achieved through all Kähler moduli stabilizations by considering the D-term. We obtain inflaton potentials of slow-roll plateau type, which are expected by recent cosmological observations. Calculations of cosmological parameters with the potentials yield experimentally favoured values.

4D dS vacua from AdS vacua of type IIB string theory and the AdS distance conjecture

In order for string theory to be made compatible with the low-energy observations of a positive cosmological constant, there have been attempts to construct dS vacua in string theory which are particularly difficult to realize. Instead of attempting to find de Sitter (dS) vacuum solutions, we point to a new way to make string theory consistent with low-energy dS cosmology. In this way, string theory lives in an anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacuum (which is simple to construct) that exists only in the high-energy regime; however, as going to the low-energy scales where the heavy string excitations and Kaluza-Klein modes are integrated out, we show that the effective picture of string theory in lower dimensions would exhibit a 4D dS vacuum without needing to add additional structures such as anti-D3 branes. Additionally, we point to evidence from bottom-up physics for the strong version of the AdS distance conjecture realized from AdS vacua in string theory. This evidence hence supports the sharpening of the AdS distance conjecture as one of the universal features of quantum gravity.

Thermodynamic Phase Transition of Generalized Ayon-Beato Garcia Black Holes

In this work, we study thermodynamics of generalized Ayon-Beato and Garcia (ABG) black hole metric which contains three parameters named as mass m , magnetic charge q , and dimensionless coupling constant of nonlinear electrodynamics interacting field γ . We showed that central regions of this black hole behaves as dS (AdS) vacuum space by setting q < 2 m q > 2 m and in the case q = 2 m reaches to a flat Minkowski space. In the large distances, this black hole behaves as a Reissner-Nordstrom BH. However, an important role of the charge q appeared in the production of a formal variable cosmological parameter which will support pressure coordinate in the thermodynamic perspective of this black hole in our setup. We should point that this formal variable cosmological parameter is different with cosmological constant which comes from AdS/CFT correspondence, and it is effective at large distances as AdS space pressure. In our setup, the assumed pressure originated from the internal material of the black hole say q and m here. By calculating the Hawking temperature of this black hole, we obtain equation of state. Then, we plotted isothermal P-V curves and heat capacity at constant pressure. They show that the system participates in the small to large phase transition of the black hole or the Hawking-Page phase transition which is similar to the van der Waals phase transition in the ordinary thermodynamics systems. In fact in the Hawking-Page phase transition disequilibrium, evaporating generalized ABG black hole reaches to a vacuum AdS space finally.

IR/UV mixing, towers of species and swampland conjectures

By applying the Covariant Entropy Bound (CEB) to an EFT in a box of size 1/ΛIR one obtains that the UV and IR cut-offs of the EFT are necessarily correlated. We argue that in a theory of Quantum Gravity (QG) one should identify the UV cutoff with the ‘species scale’, and give a general algorithm to calculate it in the case of multiple towers becoming light. One then obtains an upper bound on the characteristic mass scale of the tower in terms of the IR cut-off, given by Mtower ≲ {left({Lambda}_{mathrm{IR}}right)}^{2{alpha}_D} in Planck units, with αD = (D − 2 + p)/2p(D − 1), where p depends on the density of states. Identifying the IR cut-off with a (non-vanishing) curvature in AdS one reproduces the statement of the AdS Distance Conjecture (ADC), also giving an explicit lower bound for the α exponent. In particular, we find that the CEB implies α ≥ 1/2 in any dimension if there is a single KK tower, both in AdS and dS vacua. However values α < 1/2 are allowed if the particle tower is multiple or has a string component. We also consider the CKN constraint coming from avoiding gravitational collapse which further requires in general α ≥ 1/D for the lightest tower. We analyse the case of the DGKT-CFI class of Type IIA orientifold models and show it has both particle and string towers below the species scale, so that a careful analysis of how the ADC is defined is needed. We find that this class of models obey but do not saturate the CEB. The UV/IR constraints found apply to both AdS and dS vacua. We comment on possible applications of these ideas to the dS Swampland conjecture as well as to the observed dS phase of the universe.

Ads to Ds Phase Transition Mediated by Thermalon in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity from R\'{E}Nyi Statistics

In this work, we examine thermalon phase transition between AdS and dS vacua in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity by considering the R\'{e}nyi statistics. The thermalon changes the asymptotic structure of spacetimes via the bubble nucleation of spherical thin-shells which host a black hole in the interior. All relevant thermodynamical quantities are computed in terms of the R\'{e}nyi statistics in order to demonstrate the possible existence of the AdS to dS phase transition. In addition, we also comment on the behaviors of the phase transitions in the R\'{e}nyi statistics.

Crisis on infinite earths: short-lived de Sitter vacua in the string theory landscape

We construct purely non-perturbative anti-de Sitter vacua in string theory which, on uplifting to a de Sitter (dS) one, have a decay time many orders of magnitude smaller than those of standard constructions, such as the KKLT and LVS scenarios. By virtue of being constructed purely from non-perturbative terms, these vacua avoids certain obstructions plaguing other constructions of dS in string theory. This results in a new class of phenomenological dS vacua in string theory with novel distinctive characteristics such as having two maxima. After examining whether these uplifted dS vacua obey the TCC, we revisit some old problems of realization of dS space as a vacuum. We find that not only is it phenomenologically hard to construct TCC-compatible vacua, but also inherent temporal dependences of the degrees of freedom generically arise in such constructions, amongst other issues. This reinforces the idea that dS, if it exists in string theory, should be a Glauber-Sudarshan state and not a vacuum.

Testing swampland conjectures with machine learning

We consider Type IIB compactifications on an isotropic torus T^6 threaded by geometric and non geometric fluxes. For this particular setup we apply supervised machine learning techniques, namely an artificial neural network coupled to a genetic algorithm, in order to obtain more than sixty thousand flux configurations yielding to a scalar potential with at least one critical point. We observe that both stable AdS vacua with large moduli masses and small vacuum energy as well as unstable dS vacua with small tachyonic mass and large energy are absent, in accordance to the refined de Sitter conjecture. Moreover, by considering a hierarchy among fluxes, we observe that perturbative solutions with small values for the vacuum energy and moduli masses are favored, as well as scenarios in which the lightest modulus mass is much smaller than the corresponding AdS vacuum scale. Finally we apply some results on random matrix theory to conclude that the most probable mass spectrum derived from this string setup is that satisfying the Refined de Sitter and AdS scale conjectures.

Uplifting of AdS type to quintessence-like potential induced by frozen large-scale Lorentz violation * * Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11775080, 11865016)

The quintessence-like potential of vacuum energy can meet the requirements from both quantum gravity and the accelerating expansion of the universe. The anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacuum in string theory must be lifted to the meta-stable dS vacuum with a positive vacuum energy density to explain the accelerating expansion of the universe. Based on possible large-scale Lorentz violation, we define an effective cosmological constant that depends not only on the bare cosmological constant but also on the Lorentz violation effect. We find that the evolution of the effective cosmological constant exhibits the behavior of the quintessence potential when the bare cosmological constant originates from the string landscape, in contrast to the existence of a local minimum during evolution when the bare cosmological constant is supplied by the swampland. The critical value of the bare cosmological constant is approximately zero for the behavior transition. The frozen large-scale Lorentz violation can uplift the AdS vacua to an effective quintessence-like one in this sense.

Eternal inflation in swampy landscapes

The much discussed swampland conjectures suggest significant constraints on the properties of string theory landscape and on the nature of the multiverse that this landscape can support. The conjectures are especially constraining for models of inflation; in particular, they exclude the existence of de Sitter (dS) vacua. If the conjectures are false and dS vacua do exist, it still appears that their construction in string theory requires a fair amount of fine-tuning, so they may be vastly outnumbered by AdS vacua. Here we explore the multiverse structure suggested by these considerations. We consider two scenarios: (i) a landscape where dS vacua are rare and (ii) a landscape where dS vacua do not exist and the dS potential maxima and saddle points are not flat enough to allow for the usual hilltop inflation, even though slow roll inflation is possible on the slopes of the potential. We argue that in both scenarios inflation is eternal and all parts of the landscape that can support inflation get represented in the multiverse. The spacetime structure of the multiverse in such models is nontrivial and is rather different from the standard picture.

KKLT without AdS

According to the KKLT scenario, metastable dS vacua are formed as a result of uplifting of supersymmetric AdS vacua by overline{D3} branes. I describe an extended version of this scenario where supersymmetric AdS vacua do not exist, and metastable dS vacua appear after an uplift from a state where the potential of the volume modulus in the absence of overline{D3} branes would be unbounded below. This mechanism may considerably strengthen vacuum stabilization in the early universe.

Mass production of IIA and IIB dS vacua

We describe several applications of the mass production procedure proposed in [1] to stabilize multiple moduli in a dS vacuum, in supergravity models inspired by string theory. The construction involves a small downshift of an initial supersymmetric Minkowski minimum to a supersymmetric AdS minimum, and a consequent small uplift to a dS minimum. Our type IIA examples include dS stabilization in a 7-moduli model with [SL(2, ℝ)]7 tree level symmetry, and its simplified version, a 3-moduli STU model. In these models, we use uplifting anti-D6 branes. In type IIB models, we present 2- and 3-moduli examples of stable dS vacua in CY three-folds, with an uplifting anti-D3 brane. These include K3 fibration models, a CICY model and a multi-hole Swiss cheese model. We also address the issue whether this procedure is limited to a very small parameter range or if large deviations from the progenitor Minkowski vacuum are possible.

Mass production of type IIA dS vacua

A three-step procedure is proposed in type IIA string theory to stabilize multiple moduli in a dS vacuum. The first step is to construct a progenitor model with a localized stable supersymmetric Minkowski vacuum, or a discrete set of such vacua. It can be done, for example, using two non-perturbative exponents in the superpotential for each modulus, as in the KL model [1]. A large set of supersymmetric Minkowski vacua with strongly stabilized moduli is protected by a theorem on stability of these vacua in absence of flat directions [2]. The second step involves a parametrically small downshift to a supersymmetric AdS vacuum, which can be achieved by a small change of the superpotential. The third step is an uplift to a dS vacuum with a positive cosmological constant using the overline{D6} -brane contribution [3, 4]. Stability of the resulting dS vacuum is inherited from the stability of the original supersymmetric Minkowski vacuum if the supersymmetry breaking in dS vacuum is parametrically small [2, 5].

De Sitter cosmology on an expanding bubble

Constructing an explicit compactification yielding a metastable de Sitter (dS) vacuum in a UV consistent string theory is an incredibly difficult open problem. Motivated by this issue, as well as the conjecture that all non-supersymmetric AdS vacua must decay, we discuss the alternative possibility of realizing an effective four-dimensional dS cosmology on a codimension-one bubble wall separating two AdS5 vacua. The construction further elaborates on the scenario of arXiv:1807.01570, where the aforementioned cosmology arises due to a non-perturbative decay and is embedded in a five-dimensional bulk in a time­ dependent way. In this paper we discuss the relation between this scenario and the weak gravity conjecture and further develop the details of the four-dimensional cosmology. We provide a bulk interpretation for the dS temperature as the Unruh temperature experienced by an accelerated observer riding the bubble. A source of four-dimensional matter arises from a string cloud in the bulk, and we examine the consequences for the particle mass spectrum. Furthermore, we show how effective four-dimensional Einstein gravity on the bubble is obtained from the five-dimensional Gauss equation. We conclude by outlining some implications that this paradigm will have for holography, inflation, the standard model, and black holes.

Weakly coupled de Sitter vacua with fluxes and the swampland

It was recently argued that the swampland distance conjecture rules out dS vacua at parametrically large field distances. We point out that this conclusion can in principle be avoided in the presence of large fluxes that are not bounded by a tadpole cancellation condition. We then study this possibility in the concrete setting of classical type IIA flux compactifications with (anti-)O6-planes, (anti-)D6-branes and/or KK monopoles and show that, nonetheless, parametrically controlled dS vacua are strongly constrained. In particular, we find that such dS vacua are ruled out at parametrically large volume and/or parametrically small string coupling. We also find obstructions in the general case where the parametrically large field is an arbitrary field combination.

Scaling limits of dS vacua and the swampland

We discuss the properties of massive type IIA flux compactifications. In particular, we investigate in which case one can obtain dS vacua at large volume and small coupling. We support a general discussion of scaling symmetries with the analysis of a concrete example. We find that the large volume and weak coupling limit requires a large number of O6-planes. Since these are bound for any given compactification space one cannot get arbitrarily good control over α′ and string loop corrections.