String Universality and Non-Simply-Connected Gauge Groups in 8D

Open Access

String Universality and Non-Simply-Connected Gauge Groups in 8D

Mirjam Cvetič, Markus Dierigl, Ling Lin, and Hao Y. Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 211602 – Published 20 November 2020

Abstract

We present a consistency condition for 8D $N = 1$ supergravity theories with nontrivial global structure $G / Z$ for the non-Abelian gauge group, based on an anomaly involving the $Z$ 1-form center symmetry. The interplay with other swampland criteria identifies the majority of 8D theories with gauge group $G / Z$ , which have no string theory realization, as inconsistent quantum theories when coupled to gravity. While this condition is equivalent to geometric properties of elliptic $K 3$ surfaces in F-theory compactifications, it constrains the unexplored landscape of gauge groups in other 8D string models.

Received 3 September 2020
Revised 26 October 2020
Accepted 4 November 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.211602

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Anomalies Higher-dimensional field theories Strings & branes Supergravity

Particles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Mirjam Cvetič^1,2, Markus Dierigl ¹, Ling Lin ³, and Hao Y. Zhang¹

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6396, USA
²Center for Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
³Department of Theoretical Physics, CERN, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland