Giant Leaps and Minimal Branes in Multi-Dimensional Flux Landscapes

TL;DR

This paper challenges the standard view of flux landscape decay, revealing that the fastest decay involves simultaneous large flux discharges mediated by minimal branes, which has significant implications for cosmology.

Contribution

It demonstrates that giant leaps involving multiple fluxes dominate decay processes, introducing the concept of minimal branes that reveal new decay pathways unseen in effective theories.

Findings

Giant flux discharges are faster than small steps.

Minimal branes mediate these large flux changes.

Implications for the cosmological constant are discussed.

Abstract

There is a standard story about decay in multi-dimensional flux landscapes: that from any state, the fastest decay is to take a small step, discharging one flux unit at a time; that fluxes with the same coupling constant are interchangeable; and that states with N units of a given flux have the same decay rate as those with -N. We show that this standard story is false. The fastest decay is a giant leap that discharges many different fluxes in unison; this decay is mediated by a 'minimal' brane that wraps the internal manifold and exhibits behavior not visible in the effective theory. We discuss the implications for the cosmological constant.