Control issues of KKLT

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the KKLT construction for de Sitter vacua in string theory, revealing a significant 'singular-bulk problem' that challenges the regime's control and validity.

Contribution

It identifies and quantifies a fundamental control issue in KKLT, specifically the emergence of true singularities due to the warp factor behavior.

Findings

Warp factor becomes negative in large regions, indicating singularities.

Small curvature requirement leads to loss of control over the supergravity approximation.

Control issues related to large tadpole and complex topology are discussed.

Abstract

We analyze to which extent the KKLT proposal for the construction of de Sitter vacua in string theory is quantitatively controlled. Our focus is on the quality of the 10d supergravity approximation. As our main finding, we uncover and quantify an issue which one may want to call the "singular-bulk problem". In particular, we show that, requiring the curvature to be small in the conifold region, one is generically forced into a regime where the warp factor becomes negative in a significant part of the Calabi-Yau orientifold. This implies true singularities, independent of the familiar, string-theoretically controlled singularities of this type in the vicinity of O-planes. We also discuss possible escape routes as well as other control issues, related to the need for a large tadpole and hence for a complicated topology.