Abstract
We analyse particle species and the species scale in quantum gravity from a thermodynamic perspective. In close analogy to black hole thermodynamics, we propose that particle species have an entropy and a temperature, which is determined by the species scale. This is identical to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a corresponding minimal black hole and agrees with the number of species in a given tower of states. Through the species entropy, we find that certain entropy bounds are connected to recent swampland constraints. Moreover, the concept of species entropy and temperature allow us to formulate the laws of species thermodynamics, which are argued to govern the variations of moduli in string theory. They can be viewed as general rules that imply certain swampland conjectures, and vice versa.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Ivano Basile, Ralph Blumenhagen, Severin Lüst, Miguel Montero and Cumrun Vafa for useful discussions. The work of N.C. is supported by the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation. The work of D.L. is supported by the Origins Excellence Cluster and by the German-Israel-Project (DIP) on Holography and the Swampland.
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Cribiori, N., Lüst, D. & Montella, C. Species entropy and thermodynamics. J. High Energ. Phys. 2023, 59 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2023)059
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2023)059