The Swampland program aims to distinguish effective theories which can be completed into quantum gravity in the ultraviolet from those which cannot. This article forms an introduction to the field, assuming only a knowledge of quantum field theory and general relativity. It also forms a comprehensive review, covering the range of ideas that are part of the field, from the Weak Gravity Conjecture, through compactifications of String Theory, to the de Sitter conjecture.

The Swampland: Introduction and Review

We review cosmological inflation and its realization in quantum field theory and in string theory. This material is a portion of a book, also entitled "Inflation and String Theory", to be published by Cambridge University Press.

Inflation and String Theory

The Swampland program aims to distinguish effective theories which can be completed into quantum gravity in the ultraviolet from those which cannot. This article forms an introduction to the field, assuming only a knowledge of quantum field theory and general relativity. It also forms a comprehensive review, covering the range of ideas that are part of the field, from the Weak Gravity Conjecture, through compactifications of String Theory, to the de Sitter conjecture.

The Mordell-Weil group of an elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefold X contains information about the abelian sector of the six-dimensional theory obtained by compactifying F-theory on X. After examining features of the abelian anomaly coefficient matrix and U(1) charge quantization conditions of general F-theory vacua, we study CalabiYau threefolds with Mordell-Weil rank-one as a first step towards understanding the features of the Mordell-Weil group of threefolds in more detail. In particular, we generate an interesting class of F-theory models with U(1) gauge symmetry that have matter with both charges 1 and 2. The anomaly equations — which relate the Neron-Tate height of a section to intersection numbers between the section and fibral rational curves of the manifold — serve as an important tool in our analysis.

F-theory and the Mordell-Weil group of elliptically-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds

The continuous shift symmetry of axions is at the heart of several realizations of inflationary models. In particular, axion monodromy inflation aims at achieving super-Planckian field ranges for the inflaton in the context of string theory. Despite the elegant underlying principle, explicit models constructed hitherto are exceedingly complicated. We propose a new and better axion monodromy inflationary scenario, where the inflaton potential arises from an F-term. We present several scenarios, where the axion arises from the Kaluza-Klein compactification of higher dimensional gauge fields (or p-form potentials) in the presence of fluxes and/or torsion homology. The monodromy corresponds to a change in the background fluxes, and its F-term nature manifests in the existence of domain walls interpolating among flux configurations. Our scenario leads to diverse inflaton potentials, including linear large field behaviour, chaotic inflation, as well as potentials with even higher powers. They provide an elegant set of constructions with properties in the ballpark of the recent BICEP2 observational data on primordial gravitational waves.

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F-term Axion Monodromy Inflation

F-theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau fourfold naturally describes non- Abelian gauge symmetries through the singularity structure of the elliptic fibration. In contrast Abelian symmetries are more difficult to study because of their inherently global nature. We argue that in general F-theory compactifications there are massive Abelian symmetries, such as the uplift of the Abelian part of the U(N) gauge group on D7-branes, that arise from non-Kahler resolutions of the dual M-theory setup. The four-dimensional F-theory vacuum with vanishing expectation values for the gauge fields corresponds to the Calabi-Yau limit. We propose that fluxes that are turned on along these U(1)s are uplifted to non-harmonic four-form fluxes. We derive the effective four-dimensional gauged su- pergravity resulting from F-theory compactifications in the presence of the Abelian gauge factors including the effects of possible fluxes on the gauging, tadpoles and matter spectrum.

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Massive Abelian gauge symmetries and fluxes in F-theory

We study the superpotential induced by Euclidean D3-brane instantons carrying instanton flux, with special emphasis on its significance for the stabilization of K\"ahler moduli and Neveu-Schwarz axions in type IIB orientifolds. Quite generally, once a chiral observable sector is included in the compactification, arising on intersecting D7-branes with world-volume flux, resulting charged instanton zero modes prevent a class of instantons from participating in moduli stabilization. We show that instanton flux on Euclidean D3-branes can remove these extra zero modes and help in reinstating full moduli stabilization within a geometric regime. We comment also on the $F$-theoretic description of this effect of alleviating the general tension between moduli stabilization and chirality. In addition, we propose an alternative solution to this problem based on dressing the instantons with charged matter fields, which is unique to $F$ theory and cannot be realized in the weak coupling limit.

On Fluxed Instantons and Moduli Stabilisation in IIB Orientifolds and F-theory

We use a Kaluza-Klein reduction to compute the low-energy effective action for the massless modes of a spacetime-filling D6-brane wrapped on a special Lagrangian 3-cycle of a type IIA Calabi-Yau orientifold. The modifications to the characteristic data of the N=1 bulk orientifold theory in the presence of a D6-brane are analysed by studying the underlying Type IIA supergravity coupled to the brane worldvolume in the democratic formulation and performing a detailed dualisation procedure. The N=1 chiral coordinates are found to be in agreement with expectations from mirror symmetry. We work out the Kahler potential for the chiral superfields as well as the gauge kinetic functions for the bulk and the brane gauge multiplets including the kinetic mixing between the two. The scalar potential resulting from the dualisation procedure can be formally interpreted in terms of a superpotential. Finally, the gauging of the Peccei-Quinn shift symmetries of the complex structure multiplets reproduces the D-term potential enforcing the calibration condition for special Lagrangian 3-cycles.

The effective action of D6-branes in N=1 type IIA orientifolds

We use a Kaluza-Klein reduction to compute the low-energy effective action for the massless modes of a spacetime-filling D6-brane wrapped on a special Lagrangian 3-cycle of a type IIA Calabi-Yau orientifold. The modifications to the characteristic data of the $ \mathcal{N} = 1 $
 bulk orientifold theory in the presence of a D6-brane are analysed by studying the underlying Type IIA supergravity coupled to the brane world volume in the democratic formulation and performing a detailed dualisation procedure. The $ \mathcal{N} = 1 $
 chiralcoordinates are found to be in agreement with expectations from mirror symmetry. We work out the Kahler potential for the chiral superfields as well as the gauge kinetic functions for the bulk and the brane gauge multiplets including the kinetic mixing between the two. The scalar potential resulting from the dualisation procedure can be formally interpreted in terms of a superpotential. Finally, the gauging of the Peccei-Quinn shift symmetries of the complex structure multiplets reproduces the D-term potential enforcing the calibration condition for special Lagrangian 3-cycles.

Max Kerstan

Papers

Massive Abelian gauge symmetries and fluxes in F-theory

On Fluxed Instantons and Moduli Stabilisation in IIB Orientifolds and F-theory

The effective action of D6-branes in N=1 type IIA orientifolds

The effective action of D6-branes in $ \mathcal{N} = 1 $ type IIA orientifolds

Fluxed M5-instantons in F-theory