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A bstract We argue that supersymmetric BPS states can act as efficient finite energy probes of the moduli space geometry thanks to the attractor mechanism. We focus on 4d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 compactifications and capture aspects of the effective field theory near the attractor values in terms of physical quantities far away in moduli space. Furthermore, we illustrate how the standard distance in moduli space can be related asymptotically to the black hole mass. We also compute a measure of the resolution with which BPS black holes of a given mass can distinguish far away points in the moduli space. The black hole probes may lead to a deeper understanding of the Swampland constraints on the geometry of the moduli space. 

A bstract We point out that pure supergravity theories in AdS with enough supersymmetry lead, upon taking the large radius limit, to flat space quantum gravities with a nonperturbatively exact global symmetry, and are therefore in the Swampland. The argument applies to any AdS supergravity with gauged R-symmetry group, including truncations of most well known examples, such as AdS 5 without the S 5 or AdS 4 without the S 7 . This demonstrates that extreme scale separation, at least with enough supersymmetry, is not realizable. Moreover pure AdS theories are also in conflict with some other Swampland principles including the Weak Gravity Conjecture and the (generalized) Distance Conjecture. 

The species scale serves as a UV cutoff in the gravitational sector of an EFT and can depend on the moduli of the theory as the spectrum of the theory varies. It is argued that the dependence of the species scale on massless (or light) modes satisfies . This bound is true at all points in moduli space including also its interior. The argument is based on the idea that the short distance contribution of massless modes to gravitational terms in the EFT cannot dramatically affect the black hole entropy. Based on string theory arguments the constant in this bound is expected to be equal to as the boundary of the moduli space is approached. However, it turns out that along trajectories going from interior points to the boundaries of moduli space the slope of the species scale can approach its asymptotic value from above, thereby implying that the constant in the bound must be larger than . The bound on the variation of the species scale also implies that the mass of towers of light modes cannot go to zero faster than exponential in field distance in accordance with the Distance Conjecture.

 

Abstract We view and provide further evidence for a number of swampland criteria, including the weak gravity conjecture, distance conjecture and bounds on the finiteness of the quantum gravity vacua from the prism of the finiteness of black hole entropy. Furthermore we propose that at least all of these swampland statements may be more fundamentally a consequence of the finiteness of quantum gravity amplitudes. 

A bstract We formulate a series of conjectures relating the geometry of conformal manifolds to the spectrum of local operators in conformal field theories in d > 2 spacetime dimensions. We focus on conformal manifolds with limiting points at infinite distance with respect to the Zamolodchikov metric. Our central conjecture is that all theories at infinite distance possess an emergent higher-spin symmetry, generated by an infinite tower of currents whose anomalous dimensions vanish exponentially in the distance. Stated geometrically, the diameter of a non-compact conformal manifold must diverge logarithmically in the higher-spin gap. In the holographic context our conjectures are related to the Distance Conjecture in the swampland program. Interpreted gravitationally, they imply that approaching infinite distance in moduli space at fixed AdS radius, a tower of higher-spin fields becomes massless at an exponential rate that is bounded from below in Planck units. We discuss further implications for conformal manifolds of superconformal field theories in three and four dimensions. 

A bstract We sharpen Swampland constraints on 8d supergravity theories by studying consistency conditions on worldvolume theory of 3-brane probes. Combined with a stronger form of the cobordism conjecture, this leads to the reconstruction of the compact internal geometry and implies strong restrictions on the gauge algebra and on some higher derivative terms (related to the level of the current algebra on the 1-brane). In particular we argue that 8d supergravity theories with $$ {\mathfrak{g}}_2 $$ g 2 gauge symmetry are in the Swampland. These results provide further evidence for the string lamppost principle in 8d with 16 supercharges. 

On the basis of a number of Swampland conditions, we argue that the Hilbert space of baby universe states must be one-dimensional in a consistent theory of quantum gravity. This scenario may be interpreted as a type of “Gauss’s law for entropy” in quantum gravity, and provides a clean synthesis of the tension between Euclidean wormholes and a standard interpretation of the holographic dictionary, with no need for an ensemble. Our perspective relies crucially on the recently-proposed potential for quantum-mechanical gauge redundancies between states of the universe with different topologies. We further comment on the possible exceptions in d ≤ 3 for this hypothesis and the role of an ensemble in holographic theories in the context of theories of quantum gravity in d = 2 (such as JT gravity and possible cousins in d = 3), which we argue are incomplete physical theories that should be viewed as branes in a higher dimensional theory of quantum gravity for which an ensemble plays no role.