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arXiv · 2203.01341

$E_9$ symmetry in the Heterotic String on $S^1$ and the Weak Gravity Conjecture

Veronica Collazuol·Mariana Graña·Alvaro Herráez
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Abstract

We show that compactifications of the heterotic string on a circle exhibit at the boundary of moduli space ($R\to 0$, or equivalently the decompactification limit $R \to \infty$) a tower of winding or momentum modes that enhance the $E_8 \times E_8$ or $SO(32)$ gauge symmetry to the affine algebras $(E_9 \oplus E_9)/\sim$ (the identification means that the two copies of $E_9$ share the same central extension) and $\hat{D}_{16}$, respectively. We also prove that these towers of modes satisfy the lattice Weak Gravity and Repulsive Force Conjectures.

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Veronica Collazuol, Mariana Graña, Alvaro Herráez. 2022-03-02. $E_9$ symmetry in the Heterotic String on $S^1$ and the Weak Gravity Conjecture. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep06(2022)083

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