Year: 2014
Type: article
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/m_{Pl}. 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 Λ∼qm_{Pl}. If neither applies, one can construct simple models that forbid a natural electroweak scale and whose observation would rule out the naturalness principle.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: Clifford Cheung, Grant N. Remmen
Institution: California Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2051645847