The Weak Gravity Conjecture, if valid, rules out simple models of Natural Inflation by restricting their axion decay constant to be sub-Planckian. We revisit stringy attempts to realise Natural Inflation, with a single open string axionic inflaton from a probe D-brane in a warped throat. We show that warped geometries can allow the requisite super-Planckian axion decay constant to be achieved, within the supergravity approximation and consistently with the Weak Gravity Conjecture. Preliminary estimates of the brane backreaction suggest that the probe approximation may be under control. However, there is a tension between large axion decay constant and high string scale, where the requisite high string scale is difficult to achieve in all attempts to realise large field inflation using perturbative string theory. We comment on the Generalized Weak Gravity Conjecture in the light of our results.

United Kingdom

Karta Kooner

Susha Parameswaran

Ivonne Zavala

Warping the Weak Gravity Conjecture

In this paper we find various new backgrounds in Type IIB, IIA and M-theory with an AdS 3 -factor. The solutions are smooth and preserve small amounts of SUSY. These new backgrounds are found by application of non-Abelian T-duality (sometimes combined with T-duality) on the supergravity solution dual to the Klebanov-Witten CFT compactified to two dimensions. The field theory aspects encoded by these backgrounds are studied. We give a detailed account of conserved charges, central charges, entanglement entropy and Wilson loops. Further, we present a possible field theory interpretation for our backgrounds.