Landskepticism: or Why Effective Potentials Don't Count String Models

TL;DR

This paper argues that the string theory landscape is not a well-established concept and discusses the implications of this for phenomenology and the anthropic principle.

Contribution

It challenges the validity of the string landscape paradigm and critically examines the use of effective potentials in string models.

Findings

The string landscape is not a firmly established feature of string theory.

Effective potentials do not reliably count string models.

The paper discusses the limited phenomenological prospects of the landscape.

Abstract

This paper is a synthesis of talks I gave at the Cargese Workshop in June 2004 and the Munich Conference on Superstring Vacua in November 2004. I present arguments which show that the landscape of string theory is not a well established feature of the theory, as well as a brief discussion of the phenomenological prospects of the landscape and the use of the anthropic principle.