A Supernova Constraint on F-theory

Abstract

We study constraints on the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion in F-theory, a strongly coupled limit of string theory. We build models of QCD from compactifications to four dimensions on elliptic fibrations over toric threefolds $B_3$, characterized by an integer $N=h^{1,1}(B_3)$. The QCD axion mass increases with $N$, and we find that models with sufficiently high $N$ are inconsistent with observations of the neutrino burst from supernova 1987A, disfavoring large regions of the moduli space. Specifically, at least $95\%$ of models with $N\ge 8,791$ -- a regime that arguably contains the vast majority of known F-theory topologies -- have a QCD axion mass $m_{QCD}>15meV$ and are thus constrained. This limit is independent of cosmology. We only consider weakly-curved threefolds, where $\hat{I}{\pm }^{\prime }$ corrections are plausibly negligible.

5 pages, 4 figures