Rescuing massive photons from the Swampland
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); University of California, Santa Barbara
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Stringent Swampland conjectures aimed at effective theories containing massive abelian vectors have recently been proposed (arXiv:1808.09966), with striking phenomenological implications. In this article, we show how effective theories that parametrically violate the proposed conjectures can be UV-completed into theories that satisfy them. The UV-completion is accessible through both the Stückelberg and Higgs mechanisms, with all dimensionless parameters taking $$\mathcal{O}$$(1) values from the UV perspective. These constructions feature an IR limit containing a light vector that is parametrically separated from any other massive states, and from any cut-off scale mandated by quantum gravity consistency requirements. Moreover, the cut-off--to--vector--mass ratio remains parametrically large even in the decoupling limit in which all other massive states (including any scalar excitations) become arbitrarily heavy. We discuss how apparently strong constraints imposed by the proposed conjectures on phenomenologically interesting models, including specific production mechanisms of dark photon dark matter, are thereby circumvented.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0011702; SC0014129
- OSTI ID:
- 1602243
- Journal Information:
- Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online) Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 2018; ISSN 1029-8479
- Publisher:
- Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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