The asymptotic dS Swampland Conjecture - a simplified derivation and a potential loophole

TL;DR

This paper offers a simplified derivation of the de Sitter Swampland Conjecture using the relationship between the cutoff scale and the number of species, and discusses a potential loophole involving oscillating potentials with multiple minima.

Contribution

It presents a more straightforward derivation of the asymptotic dS Swampland Conjecture and explores a possible loophole related to oscillating potentials with multiple minima.

Findings

A simplified derivation of the dS Swampland Conjecture using species count and cutoff scale.

Identification of a potential loophole involving oscillating potentials with flat regions.

Discussion of the assumptions underlying entropy-based derivations.

Abstract

Recently, arguments for a refined de Sitter conjecture were put forward in arXiv:1810.05506. Using the large distance conjecture of arXiv:hep-th/0605264, the authors provide evidence for this dS conjecture in asymptotic regimes of field space, where the parametric control of string theory becomes arbitrarily good. Their main tool is Bousso's covariant entropy bound arXiv:hep-th/9905177. Here, we present a simpler way to reach a similar conclusion. The argument is based on the fact that the cutoff of an effective theory with gravity decreases as the number of species grows. We then discuss a loophole in this argument and its possible counterpart in the assumptions underlying the entropy-based derivation. The idea is to consider potentials which, while they remain below an exponentially falling bound, have small oscillations leading locally to relatively flat regions or even to an infinite series of dS minima.