Confinement in de Sitter space and the swampland

Abstract

Abstract The relation between confinement scale Λc of a gauge theory and the Hubble scale H of the background quasi de Sitter space, required to satisfy the Festina Lente criteria (Λc ≳ H) from swampland principles, are investigated for a holographic theory using the Karch-Randall setup. A purely gravitational description admits an unstable de Sitter extremum, and the requirement of Festina Lente translates into requirements of a perturbative gravitational dual, but prohibits an arbitrarily small hierarchy for other parameters fixed. With an additional scalar sector, the theory admits metastable de Sitter minima, and the requirement of Festina Lente imposes constraints on the parameters. For some range of parameters where Festina Lente could be constraining, the de Sitter minimum is very close to decay, thus invalidating the applicability. Further consequences of the finite lifetime of the dS extrema and the relation with related swampland conjectures are investigated, and no contradictions are found. These results make case for the consistency and utility of the Karch-Randall setup, clarify the implications of Festina Lente for holographic theories, and connect Festina Lente to other swampland conjectures.