SPS Journal Club: ‘Quantum Obstructions to N=1 Infinite Distance Limits’

Strings, Pheno and the Swampland Journal Club

Title: ‘Quantum Obstructions to N=1 Infinite Distance Limits’

Speaker: Jeroen Monnee (U. Hamburg)

Venue&Time: Red Room / 12:00

Abstract: We study limits in the field space of 4d N=1 orientifold compactifications of Type IIB string theory with O3/O7-planes that descend from infinite distance limits in the complex structure moduli space of the underlying Calabi-Yau threefold. In particular, we investigate the fate of such limits in the quantum-corrected field space. We find that such orientifolds can be grouped into two classes, dubbed O-type A/B, whose behaviours vary dramatically at the quantum level. For O-type A limits, we observe that g_s-corrections become unsuppressed by observing that the degeneration of the geometry in the F-theory lift differs drastically from classical expectations. For O-type B limits we instead observe a similar behaviour for alpha’-corrections, based on the classical inconsistency of EFT string probes combined with explicit computations of such corrections. Based on upcoming work with Lukas Kaufmann, Timo Weigand, and Max Wiesner.