A New Spin on the Weak Gravity Conjecture

Abstract

The mild form of the Weak Gravity Conjecture states that quantum or higher-derivative corrections should decrease the mass of large extremal charged black holes at fixed charge. This allows extremal black holes to decay, unless protected by a symmetry (such as supersymmetry). We reformulate this conjecture as an integrated condition on the effective stress tensor capturing the effect of quantum or higher-derivative corrections. In addition to charged black holes, we also consider rotating BTZ black holes and show that this condition is satisfied as a consequence of the $c$-theorem, proving a spinning version of the Weak Gravity Conjecture. We also apply our results to a five-dimensional boosted black string with higher-derivative corrections. The boosted black string has a $\text{BTZ}\times S^2$ near-horizon geometry and, after Kaluza-Klein reduction, describes a four-dimensional charged black hole. Combining the spinning and charged Weak Gravity Conjecture we obtain positivity bounds on the five-dimensional Wilson coefficients that are stronger than those obtained from charged black holes alone.

29 pages + appendices, 4 figures. v2: added references, introduced total landscaping principle