PIRSA:16030081

Exploring the Weak Gravity Conjecture

Reece, M. (2016). Exploring the Weak Gravity Conjecture. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/16030081

Reece, Matthew. Exploring the Weak Gravity Conjecture. Perimeter Institute, Mar. 04, 2016, https://pirsa.org/16030081 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:16030081,
            doi = {10.48660/16030081},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/16030081},
            author = {Reece, Matthew},
            keywords = {Particle Physics},
            language = {en},
            title = {Exploring the Weak Gravity Conjecture},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2016},
            month = {mar},
            note = {PIRSA:16030081 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Matthew Reece

Harvard University

Talk number
PIRSA:16030081
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

The Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC), in its original form, says that given an abelian gauge theory there should be at least one charged particle whose charge is bigger than its mass in Planck units. This has surprisingly powerful implications for the possibility of large-field inflation. In this talk I will explore some of the arguments linking the WGC to inflation before taking a closer look at a different question: which version of the WGC should we be trying to prove? I suggest that the right version to focus on is much stronger than the original WGC, and requires a sufficiently light particle to exist in every representation of the gauge group. I will present some evidence for this statement from both weakly-coupled string theory and semiclassical GR. This talk is based on work with Ben Heidenreich and Tom Rudelius (arXiv:1506.03447, 1509.06374, and further work in progress).