A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory
Abstract It has been recently argued that Higgsing of theories with U(1) n gauge interactions consistent with the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) may lead to effective field theories parametrically violating WGC constraints. The minimal examples typically involve Higgs scalars with a large charge with...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2018-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP02(2018)057 |
| _version_ | 1828484821157937152 |
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| author | Luis E. Ibáñez Miguel Montero |
| author_facet | Luis E. Ibáñez Miguel Montero |
| author_sort | Luis E. Ibáñez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract It has been recently argued that Higgsing of theories with U(1) n gauge interactions consistent with the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) may lead to effective field theories parametrically violating WGC constraints. The minimal examples typically involve Higgs scalars with a large charge with respect to a U(1) (e.g. charges (Z, 1) in U(1)2 with Z ≫ 1). This type of Higgs multiplets play also a key role in clockwork U(1) theories. We study these issues in the context of heterotic string theory and find that, even if there is no new physics at the standard magnetic WGC scale Λ ∼ g IR M P , the string scale is just slightly above, at a scale ∼kIRΛ $$ \sim \sqrt{k_{\mathrm{IR}}}\varLambda $$. Here k IR is the level of the IR U(1) worldsheet current. We show that, unlike the standard magnetic cutoff, this bound is insensitive to subsequent Higgsing. One may argue that this constraint gives rise to no bound at the effective field theory level since k IR is model dependent and in general unknown. However there is an additional constraint to be taken into account, which is that the Higgsing scalars with large charge Z should be part of the string massless spectrum, which becomes an upper bound k IR ≤ k 02, where k 0 is the level of the UV currents. Thus, for fixed k 0, Z cannot be made parametrically large. The upper bound on the charges Z leads to limitations on the size and structure of hierarchies in an iterated U(1) clockwork mechanism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:02:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-901744ea4ddb485d9a857a39a59f9980 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:02:12Z |
| publishDate | 2018-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-901744ea4ddb485d9a857a39a59f99802022-12-22T01:13:43ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792018-02-012018211110.1007/JHEP02(2018)057A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theoryLuis E. Ibáñez0Miguel Montero1Departamento de Física Teórica and Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridInstitute for Theoretical Physics and Center for Extreme Matter and Emergent Phenomena, Utrecht UniversityAbstract It has been recently argued that Higgsing of theories with U(1) n gauge interactions consistent with the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) may lead to effective field theories parametrically violating WGC constraints. The minimal examples typically involve Higgs scalars with a large charge with respect to a U(1) (e.g. charges (Z, 1) in U(1)2 with Z ≫ 1). This type of Higgs multiplets play also a key role in clockwork U(1) theories. We study these issues in the context of heterotic string theory and find that, even if there is no new physics at the standard magnetic WGC scale Λ ∼ g IR M P , the string scale is just slightly above, at a scale ∼kIRΛ $$ \sim \sqrt{k_{\mathrm{IR}}}\varLambda $$. Here k IR is the level of the IR U(1) worldsheet current. We show that, unlike the standard magnetic cutoff, this bound is insensitive to subsequent Higgsing. One may argue that this constraint gives rise to no bound at the effective field theory level since k IR is model dependent and in general unknown. However there is an additional constraint to be taken into account, which is that the Higgsing scalars with large charge Z should be part of the string massless spectrum, which becomes an upper bound k IR ≤ k 02, where k 0 is the level of the UV currents. Thus, for fixed k 0, Z cannot be made parametrically large. The upper bound on the charges Z leads to limitations on the size and structure of hierarchies in an iterated U(1) clockwork mechanism.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP02(2018)057Effective Field TheoriesSuperstrings and Heterotic StringsSpontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
| spellingShingle | Luis E. Ibáñez Miguel Montero A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory Journal of High Energy Physics Effective Field Theories Superstrings and Heterotic Strings Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
| title | A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory |
| title_full | A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory |
| title_fullStr | A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory |
| title_full_unstemmed | A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory |
| title_short | A note on the WGC, effective field theory and clockwork within string theory |
| title_sort | note on the wgc effective field theory and clockwork within string theory |
| topic | Effective Field Theories Superstrings and Heterotic Strings Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP02(2018)057 |
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