Distance Conjecture and De-Sitter Quantum Gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores the connection between the distance conjecture in string theory and the DS/dS correspondence, providing evidence that the conjecture holds in quantum gravity models with positive vacuum energy.

Contribution

It demonstrates a strong signal supporting the validity of the distance conjecture within the DS/dS quantum gravity framework.

Findings

Support for the distance conjecture in positive vacuum energy models

Evidence linking swampland criteria to the DS/dS correspondence

Implications for the landscape and swampland in string theory

Abstract

Motivated by the early discovery of the gigantic landscape of string theory vacua, in recent years people switched direction to try to find constraints on low energy effective field theories from UV-complete descriptions for example quantum gravity or string theory. Those constraints are called swampland criteria. Among the proposed swampland criteria the distance conjecture is the most well-motivated one from the universal behavior of string theory compactifications. It claims that for a type of scalar fields, called moduli, the effective field theory description will break down if it moves a large distance in field (moduli) space. In this work, we will show that in one proposal for a complete theory of quantum gravity including positive vacuum energy, the so called DS/dS correspondence, there is a strong signal of the validity of the distance conjecture.