Constraining de Sitter Space in String Theory

David Kutasov, Travis Maxfield, Ilarion Melnikov, and Savdeep Sethi

Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 071305 – Published 14 August 2015

Abstract

We argue that the heterotic string does not have classical vacua corresponding to de Sitter space-times of dimension four or higher. The same conclusion applies to type II vacua in the absence of Ramond-Ramond fluxes. Our argument extends prior supergravity no-go results to regimes of high curvature. We discuss the interpretation of the heterotic result from the perspective of dual type II orientifold constructions. Our result suggests that the genericity arguments used in string landscape discussions should be viewed with caution.

Received 13 May 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.071305

Authors & Affiliations

David Kutasov^1,*, Travis Maxfield^1,†, Ilarion Melnikov^2,‡, and Savdeep Sethi^1,§

¹Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
²Department of Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA