Naturalness and the Weak Gravity Conjecture

Clifford Cheung and Grant N. Remmen
Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 051601 – Published 29 July 2014

Abstract

The weak gravity conjecture (WGC) is an ultraviolet consistency condition asserting that an Abelian force requires a state of charge q and mass m with q>m/mPl. We generalize the WGC to product gauge groups and study its tension with the naturalness principle for a charged scalar coupled to gravity. Reconciling naturalness with the WGC either requires a Higgs phase or a low cutoff at ΛqmPl. If neither applies, one can construct simple models that forbid a natural electroweak scale and whose observation would rule out the naturalness principle.

  • Figure
  • Received 19 February 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.051601

© 2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Clifford Cheung* and Grant N. Remmen

  • Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

  • *clifford.cheung@caltech.edu
  • gremmen@theory.caltech.edu

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Issue

Vol. 113, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2014

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