(12.12.) de Sitter Vacua, Inflation and the Swampland
Marco Scalisi (KU Leuven)
12.12.2019 at 16:15
Not all the effective field theories (EFTs) coupled to gravity admit a UV completion in String Theory. This suggests that quantum gravity constraints can affect the physics at lower, naively decoupled, energies. What can we then say about EFTs of dS vacua and inflation? Do they belong to the Swampland or to the Landscape? In this talk, we focus on specific aspects of this question. First, we critically analyse recent arguments which propose that interaction between the anti-D3 brane and bulk moduli prevent the formation of de Sitter vacua. We show that at the 4d level this is never the case and that these terms can even act as formation source. Second, we discuss the significance for inflation of the Swampland Distance Conjecture, a proposal for a quantum gravity constraint acting at infinite distances.
Arnold Sommerfeld Center
Theresienstrasse 37
Room 348