The dS swampland conjecture and the Higgs potential

TL;DR

The paper examines the dS swampland conjecture's implications for the Higgs potential, finding that standard models violate the conjecture unless specific couplings are introduced, challenging its universality.

Contribution

It identifies a significant discrepancy between the conjecture and the Standard Model, proposing a special coupling as a potential resolution.

Findings

Standard Model with decoupled sectors violates the conjecture by 50 orders of magnitude.

A specific coupling between quintessence and the Higgs sector may satisfy the conjecture.

The conjecture's applicability to realistic models is more nuanced than previously thought.

Abstract

According to a conjecture recently put forward in arXiv:1806.08362, the scalar potential $V$ of any consistent theory of quantum gravity satisfies a bound $|\nabla V|/V \geq {\cal O}(1)$. This forbids dS solutions and supports quintessence models of cosmic acceleration. Here we point out that in the simplest models incorporating the Standard Model in addition to quintessence, with the two sectors decoupled as suggested by observations, the proposed bound is violated by 50 orders of magnitude. However, a very specific coupling between quintessence and just the Higgs sector may still be allowed and consistent with the conjecture.