2021/10/14 by Mirjam Cvetic, Ling Lin, Andrew P. Turner
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.046005
21 pages plus appendices; v2: references added
arxiv created 2021/10/14 · arxiv updated 2022/02/23
We argue for the quantum-gravitational inconsistency of certain 6d N=(1,0) supergravity theories, whose anomaly-free gauge algebra \mathfrakg and hypermultiplet spectrum M were observed in arxiv:2012.01437 to be realizable only as part of a larger gauge sector (\mathfrakg' ⊃ \mathfrakg, M' ⊃ M) in F-theory. To detach any reference to a string theoretic method of construction, we utilize flavor symmetries to provide compelling reasons why the vast majority of such (\mathfrakg,M) theories are not compatible with quantum gravity constraints, and how the "automatic enhancement" to (\mathfrakg', M') remedies this. In the first class of models, with \mathfrakg' = \mathfrakg ⊕ \mathfrakh, we show that there exists an unbroken flavor symmetry \mathfrakh acting on the matter M, which, if ungauged, would violate the No-Global-Symmetries Hypothesis. This argument also applies to 1-form center symmetries, which govern the gauge group topology and massive states in representations different than those of massless states. In a second class, we find that \mathfrakg is incompatible with the flavor symmetry of certain BPS strings that must exist by the Completeness Hypothesis.