Princeton University Gravity Initiative Seminar

Abstract: The Swampland Cobordism conjecture asserts that in quantum gravity, any spacetime can terminate, i.e., the cobordism group of quantum gravity is trivial. A striking consequence of this conjecture is that it predicts the existence of previously unknown non-supersymmetric stable objects in gravity. In type IIB string theory, this leads to a new class of branes now known as reflection 7-branes (R7-branes). We present both some topological features of these solutions, as well as the corresponding gravitational backgrounds these sources generate. This bulk gravity analysis also provides strong evidence for the existence of a novel 8D quantum field theory localized on the worldvolume of the brane.