The asymptotic dS Swampland Conjecture - a simplified derivation and a potential loophole

Abstract

Recently, arguments for a refined de Sitter conjecture were put forward in arXiv:1810.05506. Using the large distance conjecture of arXiv:hep-th/0605264, the authors provide evidence for this dS conjecture in asymptotic regimes of field space, where the parametric control of string theory becomes arbitrarily good. Their main tool is Bousso's covariant entropy bound arXiv:hep-th/9905177. Here, we present a simpler way to reach a similar conclusion. The argument is based on the fact that the cutoff of an effective theory with gravity decreases as the number of species grows. We then discuss a loophole in this argument and its possible counterpart in the assumptions underlying the entropy-based derivation. The idea is to consider potentials which, while they remain below an exponentially falling bound, have small oscillations leading locally to relatively flat regions or even to an infinite series of dS minima.

8 pages; v2: referencing and discussion improved; v3: slightly extended version

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• Sharpening the Distance Conjecture in Diverse Dimensions
• Runaway Quintessence, Out of the Swampland
• Conditions for (No) Eternal Inflation
• Brane gaugino condensate in 10d
• A 10d view on the KKLT AdS vacuum and uplifting
• Understanding KKLT from a 10d perspective
• Modular Symmetries and the Swampland Conjectures
• Weakly Coupled de Sitter Vacua with Fluxes and the Swampland
• Asymptotic safety, string theory and the weak gravity conjecture
• Heterotic de Sitter Beyond Modular Symmetry
• Catastrophic Production of Slow Gravitinos
• Scaling limits of dS vacua and the swampland
• Phenomenological Consequences of the Refined Swampland Conjecture
• The trans-Planckian censorship conjecture from the swampland distance conjecture
• Asymptotic Scalar Field Cosmology in String Theory
• The $F$-term Problem and other Challenges of Stringy Quintessence
• Asymptotic Observables and the Swampland
• Quantum aspects of chaos and complexity from bouncing cosmology: A study with two-mode single field squeezed state formalism
• Hyperbolic field space and swampland conjecture for DBI scalar
• What does Inflation say about Dark Energy given the Swampland Conjectures?
• Multi-field Inflation in High-Slope Potentials
• Relating the scalar weak gravity conjecture and the swampland distance conjecture for an accelerating universe
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• de Sitter Space as a Glauber-Sudarshan State
• Further refining Swampland Conjecture on inflation in general scalar-tensor theories of gravity
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• On Asymptotic Dark Energy in String Theory
• Transplanckian Censorship and the Local Swampland Distance Conjecture
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• Bulk/boundary Modular Quintessence and DESI
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Swampland: The Cosmologist's Handbook to the string-theoretical Swampland Programme
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• Solar System and Atomic Clock Bounds on Locally Coupled Swampland Scalars