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(07.01.) Gravity decoupling, field space curvature, and the Swampland
Alberto Castellano (University of Chicago)
07.01.2026 at 14:30
ln this talk we revisit the old subject of gravity decoupling from a modern Swampland point of view. Using 4d N=2 EFTs obtained from Type II Calabi-Yau compactifications as a laboratory, we unveil a remarkable interplay between rigid field theories (RFTs), charge-to-mass ratios, and moduli space curvature divergences. Thus, we first introduce a RFT condition within the vector multiplet sector that is naturally linked to the physics of certain BPS particles in the theory, whose charge-to-mass ratio diverges. The latter condition should be supplemented with two additional kinematic and dynamical requirements that we explain, thereby ensuring the RFT sector to fully decouple from the rest of gauge and gravitational fields. We illustrate all these features in both finite and infinite distance limits within the vector multiplet moduli space, where the monodromy and axionic shift symmetries developed by the theory allow us to propose a simpler yet general definition of core RFT in terms of electric-magnetic pairs of monodromy-invariant periods. This provides us with all necessary tools to extend the analysis of curvature divergences to other infinite distance limits away from the large complex structure/large volume point, including conifold-like degenerations and Seiberg-Witten limits.
B046 (Theresienstr. 39)