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We revisit the Emergence Proposal in the vector multiplet moduli space of type IIA N = 2 supersymmetric string vacua in four dimensions, for which the string tree-level prepotential and the string one-loop correction are exactly known via mirror symmetry. We argue that there exists an exact notion of emergence, according to which these four-dimensional couplings can be computed exactly in any asymptotic limit in field space. In such limits, a perturbative quantum gravity theory emerges, whose fundamental degrees of freedom include all complete infinite towers of states with typical mass scale not larger than the species scale. For a decompactification limit, this picture is closely related to and in fact motivated by the computation of Gopakumar-Vafa invariants. In addition, in the same limit our results suggest that the emergent theory will also contain asymptotically tensionless wrapped NS5-branes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has recently been shown that the leading Wilson coefficient in type II string theory can take (almost) all values allowed by unitarity, crossing symmetry and maximal supersymmetry in D = 10 and D = 9 dimensions. This suggests that string theory might define the unique consistent quantum theory of gravity with maximal supersymmetry. We study the minima of the leading Wilson coefficient in D = 6, 7 and 8 dimensions and find the global minimum at the point in moduli space with maximal symmetry. The minimum value turns out to always be negative for D ≤ 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the quantum dynamics of a system of n Abelian N = 1 vector multiplets coupled to 1 2 n n + 1 chiral multiplets which parametrise the Hermitian symmetric space Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). In the presence of supergravity, this model is super-Weyl invariant and possesses the maximal non-compact duality group Sp(2n, ℝ) at the classical level. These symmetries should be respected by the logarithmically divergent term (the "induced action") of the effective action obtained by integrating out the vector multiplets. In computing the effective action, one has to deal with non-minimal operators for which the known heat kernel techniques are not directly applicable, even in flat (super)space. In this paper we develop a method to compute the induced action in Minkowski superspace. The induced action is derived in closed form and has a simple structure. It is a higher-derivative superconformal sigma model on Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). The obtained N = 1 results are generalised to the case of N = 2 local supersymmetry: a system of n Abelian N = 2 vector multiplets coupled to N = 2 chiral multiplets XI parametrising Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). The induced action is shown to be proportional to ∫ d 4 x d 4 θ d 4 θ ¯ E K X X ¯ , where K X X ¯ is the Kähler potential for Sp(2n, ℝ)/U(n). We also apply our method to compute DeWitt's a2 coefficients in some non-supersymmetric theories with non-minimal operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose quantum gravitational constraints on effective four-dimensional theories with N = 1 supersymmetry. These Swampland constraints arise by demanding consistency of the worldsheet theory of a class of axionic, or EFT, strings whose existence follows from the Completeness Conjecture of quantum gravity. Modulo certain assumptions, we derive positivity bounds and quantization conditions for the axionic couplings to the gauge and gravitational sector at the two- and four-derivative level, respectively. We furthermore obtain general bounds on the rank of the gauge sector in terms of the gravitational couplings to the axions. We exemplify how these bounds rule out otherwise consistent effective supergravity theories as theories of quantum gravity. Our derivations of the quantum gravity bounds are tested and further motivated in concrete string theoretic settings. In particular, this leads to a sharper version of the bound on the gauge group rank in F-theory on elliptic four-folds with a smooth base, which improves the known geometrical Kodaira bounds. We furthermore provide a detailed derivation of the EFT string constraints in heterotic string compactifications including higher derivative corrections to the effective action and apply the bounds to M-theory compactifications on G2 manifolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ℤ 2 × ℤ 2 heterotic string orbifold yielded a large space of phenomenological three generation models and serves as a testing ground to explore how the Standard Model of particle physics may be incorporated in a theory of quantum gravity. In this paper, we explore the existence of type 0 models in this class of string compactifications. We demonstrate the existence of type 0 ℤ 2 × ℤ 2 heterotic string orbifolds, and show that there exist a large degree of redundancy in the space of GGSO projection coefficients when the type 0 restrictions are implemented. We explore the existence of such configurations in several constructions. The first correspond to essentially a unique configuration out of a priori 2 2 1 discrete GGSO choices. We demonstrate this uniqueness analytically, as well as by the corresponding analysis of the partition function. A wider classification is performed in S ̃ -models and S -models, where the first class correspond to compactifications of a tachyonic ten-dimensional heterotic string vacuum, whereas the second correspond to compactifications of the ten-dimensional nontachyonic S O (1 6) × S O (1 6). We show that the type 0 models in both cases contain physical tachyons at the free fermionic point in the moduli space. These vacua are therefore necessarily unstable, but may be instrumental in exploring the string dynamics in cosmological scenarios. We analyze the properties of the string one-loop amplitude. Naturally, these are divergent due to the existence of tachyonic states. We show that once the tachyonic states are removed by hand the amplitudes are finite and exhibit a form of misaligned supersymmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a class of symmetry reduced models of N = 1 super- gravity using self-dual variables. It is based on a particular Ansatz for the gravitino field as proposed by D'Eath et al. We show that the essential part of the constraint algebra in the classical theory closes. In particular, the (graded) Poisson bracket between the left and right supersymmetry constraint reproduces the Hamiltonian constraint. For the quantum theory, we apply techniques from the manifestly supersymmetric approach to loop quantum supergravity, which yields a graded analog of the holonomy-flux algebra and a natural state space. We implement the remaining constraints in the quantum theory. For a certain subclass of these models, we show explicitly that the (graded) commutator of the supersymmetry constraints exactly reproduces the classical Poisson relations. In particular, the trace of the commutator of left and right supersymmetry constraints reproduces the Hamilton constraint operator. Finally, we consider the dynamics of the theory and compare it to a quantization using standard variables and standard minisuperspace techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the rotating black hole solutions bring new effects in the particle physics, allowing to unite gravity with quantum theory. Due to extremely large spin/mass ratio (for typical spinning particles), the rotating Kerr black hole solution deforms space topologically on the Compton scale, which increases extremely effective influence gravity on quantum processes, and gravity starts to collaborate with quantum processes, instead of confront them. In particular, Kerr's gravity defines several important structures and parameters of electron, in particular, its non-perturbative shape, the associated Wilson loop, features of the used supersymmetry and specials of the stringy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We initiate the classification of supersymmetric solutions of type II supergravity on R 1 , 2 × S 3 × M 4 . We find explicit local expressions for all backgrounds with either a single Killing spinor or two of equal norm, up to PDE's. We show that the only type II AdS × 4 S 3 solution is the known N = 4 AdS 4 background obtained from the near-horizon limit of intersecting D2–D6 branes. Various known branes and intersecting brane systems are recovered, and we obtain a novel class of R 1 , 2 × S 2 × S 3 solutions in IIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the constraints of spacetime supersymmetry for perturbative three- and two-dimensional Minkowski vacua of the critical heterotic string. Assuming a standard RNS construction of the spacetime supersymmetry generators and a compact unitary internal superconformal worldsheet theory, we describe the worldsheet structures associated to various spacetime supersymmetries. In three dimensions we show that there are no CFT surprises: each allowed spacetime supersymmetry is realized by a supergravity compactification. As a recent orbifold construction shows, in two dimensions there are more exotic possibilities, and we discuss how these fit into our analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum M-theory is formulated using the current algebra technique. The current algebra is based on a Kac-Moody algebra rather than usual finite dimensional Lie algebra. Specifically, I study the Kac-Moody algebra that was shown recently to contain all the ingredients of M-theory. Both the internal symmetry and the external Lorentz symmetry can be realized inside , so that, by constructing the current algebra of , I obtain both internal gauge theory and gravity theory. The energy-momentum tensor is constructed as the bilinear form of the currents, yielding a system of quantum equations of motion of the currents/fields. Supersymmetry is incorporated in a natural way. The so-called 'field-current identity' is built in and, for example, the gravitino field is itself a conserved supercurrent. One unanticipated outcome is that the quantum gravity equation is not identical to the one obtained from the Einstein-Hilbert action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I discuss the role of quantum effects in the phenomenology of effective supergravity theories from compactification of the weakly coupled heterotic string. An accurate incorporation of these effects requires a regularization procedure that respects local supersymmetry and BRST invariance and that retains information associated with the cut-off scale, which has physical meaning in an effective theory. I briefly outline the Pauli–Villars regularization procedure, describe some applications, and comment on what remains to be done to fully define the effective quantum field theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the inclusive production of a Higgs boson in association with a high- p photon at the LHC, detailing the leading-order features of the main processes contributing to the Hγ final state. Requiring an extra hard photon in Higgs production upsets the cross-section hierarchy for the dominant channels. The Hγ inclusive production comes mainly from photons radiated in vector-boson fusion (VBF), which accounts for about 2/3 of the total rate, for p > 30 GeV, at leading order. On the other hand, radiating a high- p photon in the main top-loop Higgs channel implies an extra parton in the final state, which suppresses the production rate by a further α power. As a result, the Hγ production via top loops at the LHC has rates comparable with the ones arising from either the $$ Ht\overline{t} $$ production or the HW ( Z)γ associated production. Then, in order of decreasing cross section, comes the single-top-plus-Higgs channel, followed in turn by the heavy-flavor fusion processes $$ b\overline{b}\to H\gamma $$ and $$ c\overline{c}\to H\gamma $$. The Hγ production via electroweak loops has just a minor role. At larger c.m. energies, the $$ Ht\overline{t}\gamma $$ channel surpasses the total contribution of top-loop processes. In particular, requiring p > 30 GeV at $$ \sqrt{S}\simeq 100 $$ TeV, $$ Ht\overline{t}\gamma $$ accounts for about 1 /4 of the inclusive Hγ production at leading order, about half of the total being due to VBF production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work considers an extension of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs sector by a real, scalar singlet field, including applicability to a dark matter (DM) model with the addition of a Yukawa coupling to a fermionic dark matter candidate. The collider signatures and constraints on the mixed two-Higgs scenario are determined, including limits from Higgs production signals and exclusion searches, as well as constraints arising from the Higgs total and invisible widths. As there is overwhelming Higgs data which is consistent with a SM scenario, the case in which an additional scalar has evaded detection is further explored in the context of Higgs precision measurement. The discovery reach and prospective signatures of the model at a proposed linear collider are investigated, with particular focus on the Higgs triple coupling, and di-Higgs production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a version of the twin Higgs mechanism with vector-like top partners. In this setup all gauge anomalies automatically cancel, even without twin leptons. The matter content of the most minimal twin sector is therefore just two twin tops and one twin bottom. The LHC phenomenology, illustrated with two example models, is dominated by twin glueball decays, possibly in association with Higgs bosons. We further construct an explicit four-dimensional UV completion and discuss a variety of UV completions relevant for both vector-like and fraternal twin Higgs models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study Einstein-Born-Infeld gravity and construct the dyonic (A)dS planar black holes in general even dimensions, that carry both the electric charge and magnetic fluxes along the planar space. In four dimensions, the solution can be constructed with also spherical and hyperbolic topologies. We study the black hole thermodynamics and obtain the first law. We also classify the singularity structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study global symmetry groups of six-dimensional superconformal field theories (SCFTs). In the Coulomb branch we use field theoretical arguments to predict an upper bound for the global symmetry of the SCFT. We then analyze global symmetry groups of F-theory constructions of SCFTs with a one-dimensional Coulomb branch. While in the vast majority of cases, all of the global symmetries allowed by our Coulomb branch analysis can be realized in F-theory, in a handful of cases we find that F-theory models fail to realize the full symmetry of the theory on the Coulomb branch. In one particularly mysterious case, F-theory models realize several distinct maximal subgroups of the predicted group, but not the predicted group itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the holographic description of a class of AdS black holes with scalar hair involves dual field theories with a double well effective potential. Black hole microstates have significant support around both vacua in the dual, which correspond to perturbative degrees of freedom on opposite sides of the horizon. A solvable toy-model version of this dual is given by a quantum mechanical particle in a double well potential. In this we show explicitly that the interactions replace the state-dependence that is needed to describe black hole microstates in a low energy effective model involving the tensor product of two decoupled harmonic oscillators. A naive number operator signals the presence of a firewall but a careful construction of perturbative states and operators extinguishes this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yang-Baxter string sigma-models provide a systematic way to deform coset geometries, such as AdSp × Sp, while retaining the σ-model integrability. It has been shown that the Yang-Baxter deformation in target space is simply an open-closed string map that can be defined for any geometry, not just coset spaces. Given a geometry with an isometry group and a bivector that is assumed to be a linear combination of antisymmetric products of Killing vectors, we show the equations of motion of (generalized) supergravity reduce to the Classical Yang-Baxter Equation associated with the isometry group, proving the statement made in [1]. These results bring us closer to the proof of the “YB solution generating technique” for (generalized) supergravity advertised in [1] and in particular provide an economical way to perform TsT transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct non-geometric AdS4 solutions of IIB string theory where the fields in overlapping patches are glued by elements of the S-duality group. We obtain them by suitable quotients of compact and non-compact geometric solutions. The quotient procedure suggests CFT duals as quiver theories with links involving the so-called T [U(N)] theory. We test the validity of the non-geometric solutions (and of our proposed holographic duality) by computing the three-sphere partition function Z of the CFTs. A first class of solutions is obtained by an S-duality quotient of Janus-type non-compact solutions and is dual to 3d N=4 SCFTs; for these we manage to compute Z of the dual CFT at finite N, and it agrees perfectly with the supergravity result in the large N limit. A second class has five-branes, it is obtained by a Möbius-like S-quotient of ordinary compact solutions and is dual to 3d N=3 SCFTs. For these, Z agrees with the supergravity result if one chooses the limit carefully so that the effect of the fivebranes does not backreact on the entire geometry. Other limits suggest the existence of IIA duals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive constraints on two-dimensional conformal field theories with higher spin symmetry due to unitarity, modular invariance, and causality. We focus on CFTs with WN symmetry in the “irrational” regime, where c > N − 1 and the theories have an infinite number of higher-spin primaries. The most powerful constraints come from positivity of the Kac matrix, which (unlike the Virasoro case) is non-trivial even when c > N − 1. This places a lower bound on the dimension of any non-vacuum higher-spin primary state, which is linear in the central charge. At large c, this implies that the dual holographic theories of gravity in AdS3, if they exist, have no local, perturbative degrees of freedom in the semi-classical limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider on the bulk side extensions of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model to Yang-Mills and higher spins. To this end we study generalizations of the Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) model in the BF formulation. Our main goal is to obtain generalizations of the Schwarzian action, which we achieve in two ways: by considering the on-shell action supplemented by suitable boundary terms compatible with all symmetries, and by applying the Lee-Wald-Zoupas formalism to analyze the symplectic structure of dilaton gravity. We conclude with a discussion of the entropy (including log-corrections from higher spins) and a holographic dictionary for the generalized SYK/JT correspondence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compute the leading logarithmic correction to black hole entropy on the non-BPS branch of 4D N≥2 supergravity theories. This branch corresponds to finite temperature black holes whose extremal limit does not preserve supersymmetry, such as the D0 − D6 system in string theory. Starting from a black hole in minimal Kaluza-Klein theory, we discuss in detail its embedding into N=8, 6, 4, 2 supergravity, its spectrum of quadratic fluctuations in all these environments, and the resulting quantum corrections. We find that the c-anomaly vanishes only when N≥6, in contrast to the BPS branch where c vanishes for all N≥2. We briefly discuss potential repercussions this feature could have in a microscopic description of these black holes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a covariant prescription to compute holographic entanglement entropy and Poincaré blocks (Global BMS blocks) in the context of three-dimensional Einstein gravity in flat space. We first present a prescription based on worldline methods in the probe limit, inspired by recent analog calculations in AdS/CFT. Building on this construction, we propose a full extrapolate dictionary and use it to compute holographic correlators and blocks away from the probe limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study five-dimensional superconformal field theories and their holographic dual, matter-coupled Romans supergravity. On the one hand, some recently derived formulae allow us to extract the central charges from deformations of the supersymmetric five-sphere partition function, whose large N expansion can be computed using matrix model techniques. On the other hand, the conformal and flavor central charges can be extracted from the six-dimensional supergravity action, by carefully analyzing its embedding into type I’ string theory. The results match on the two sides of the holographic duality. Our results also provide analytic evidence for the symmetry enhancement in five-dimensional superconformal field theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any (d + 1)-dimensional CFT with a U(1) flavor symmetry, a BPS bound and an exactly marginal coupling admits a decoupling limit in which one zooms in on the spectrum close to the bound. This limit is an Inönü-Wigner contraction of so(2, d+1)⊕u(1) that leads to a relativistic algebra with a scaling generator but no conformal generators. In 2D CFTs, Lorentz boosts are abelian and by adding a second u(1) we find a contraction of two copies of sl(2, ℝ) ⊕ u(1) to two copies of P2c, the 2-dimensional centrally extended Poincaré algebra. We show that the bulk is described by a novel non-Lorentzian geometry that we refer to as pseudo-Newton-Cartan geometry. Both the Chern-Simons action on sl(2, ℝ) ⊕ u(1) and the entire phase space of asymptotically AdS3 spacetimes are well-behaved in the corresponding limit if we fix the radial component for the u(1) connection. With this choice, the resulting Newton-Cartan foliation structure is now associated not with time, but with the emerging holographic direction. Since the leaves of this foliation do not mix, the emergence of the holographic direction is much simpler than in AdS3 holography. Furthermore, we show that the asymptotic symmetry algebra of the limit theory consists of a left- and a right-moving warped Virasoro algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The usual theory of inflation breaks down in eternal inflation. We derive a dual description of eternal inflation in terms of a deformed Euclidean CFT located at the threshold of eternal inflation. The partition function gives the amplitude of different geometries of the threshold surface in the no-boundary state. Its local and global behavior in dual toy models shows that the amplitude is low for surfaces which are not nearly conformal to the round three-sphere and essentially zero for surfaces with negative curvature. Based on this we conjecture that the exit from eternal inflation does not produce an infinite fractal-like multiverse, but is finite and reasonably smooth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study Type IIB supergravity solutions with spacetime of the form AdS6×S2 warped over a Riemann surface Σ, where Σ includes punctures around which the super-gravity fields have non-trivial SL(2, R) monodromy. Solutions without monodromy have a compelling interpretation as near-horizon limits of (p, q) 5-brane webs, and the punctures have been interpreted as additional 7-branes in the web. In this work we provide further support for this interpretation and clarify several aspects of the identification of the supergravity solutions with brane webs. To further support the identification of the punctures with 7-branes, we show that punctures with infinitesimal monodromy match a probe 7-brane analysis using κ-symmetry. We then construct families of solutions with fixed 5-brane charges and punctures with finite monodromy, corresponding to fully back-reacted 7-branes. We compute the sphere partition functions of the dual 5d SCFTs and use the results to discuss concrete brane web interpretations of the supergravity solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a supergravity-Maxwell theory with a novel embedding of the Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term, leading to spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The gauging of the R-symmetry is not required and a gravitino mass is allowed for a generic vacuum. When matter couplings are introduced, an uplift through a positive definite contribution to the scalar potential is obtained. We observe a notable similarity to the D¯3 uplift constructions and we give a natural description in terms of constrained multiplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We define the worldline harmonic superspace and its analytic subspace as a deformation of the flat harmonic superspace. The harmonic superfield description of the two mutually mirror off-shell supermultiplets is developed and the corresponding invariant actions are presented, as well as the relevant classical and quantum supercharges. Whereas the σ-model actions exist for both types of the multiplet, the invariant Wess–Zumino term can be defined only for one of them, thus demonstrating non-equivalence of these multiplets in the case as opposed to the flat supersymmetry. A superconformal subclass of general actions invariant under the trigonometric-type realizations of the supergroup is singled out. The superconformal Wess–Zumino actions are shown to possess an infinite-dimensional supersymmetry forming the centerless super Virasoro algebra. We solve a few simple instructive examples of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics of the multiplets and reveal the representation contents of the corresponding sets of the quantum states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]