Asymptotic String Compactifications; Periods, flux potentials, and the swampland

TL;DR

This thesis explores how asymptotic Hodge theory informs string compactifications, providing new methods for constructing periods, analyzing flux potentials, and understanding physical couplings near moduli space boundaries.

Contribution

It introduces novel techniques for constructing asymptotic periods and applies asymptotic Hodge theory to flux vacua and bounds in string compactifications.

Findings

Developed methods for constructing asymptotic periods in moduli space.

Proposed schemes for moduli stabilization using asymptotic Hodge theory.

Analyzed bounds from the Weak Gravity Conjecture in 4d supergravity.

Abstract

In this thesis we have studied various applications of asymptotic Hodge theory in string compactifications. This mathematical framework captures how physical couplings of the resulting effective theories behave near field space boundaries where the internal Calabi-Yau manifold degenerates. Below we summarize the three parts in which this thesis is divided. Part I introduces the techniques from asymptotic Hodge theory we used throughout this thesis. We review the results of the nilpotent orbit theorem of Schmid and the multi-variable sl(2)-orbit theorem of Cattani, Kaplan and Schmid. This discussion is tailored to applications in string compactifications, explaining how to describe important physical couplings such as K\"ahler potentials and flux superpotentials near boundaries in moduli spaces. Part II discusses a geometrical application with the construction of general models for asymptotic periods. Taking the constraints imposed by asymptotic Hodge theory as consistency principles, we develop new methods for constructing these periods. We explicitly carry out our program for all possible one- and two-moduli boundaries. Part III discusses two applications of asymptotic Hodge theory in string compactifications. The first investigates bounds put by the Weak Gravity Conjecture in the setting of 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravity theories arising from Type IIB Calabi-Yau compactifications. The second application studies flux potentials in asymptotic regimes in complex structure moduli space, where we develop two schemes for moduli stabilization. The first scheme sets up an approximation procedure for finding flux vacua divided in three steps: the sl(2)-approximation, the nilpotent orbit approximation, and the fully corrected result. The second scheme constructs flux vacua with a small flux superpotential by using essential exponential corrections controlled by asymptotic Hodge theory.