The Weak Gravity Conjecture, RG Flows, and Supersymmetry

Abstract

We study one-loop divergences in Einstein-Maxwell theory and their implications for the weak gravity conjecture. In particular, we show that renormalization of these divergences leads to positivity of higher-derivative corrections to the charge-to-mass ratio of dyonic black holes. This allows charged extremal black holes to decay into smaller ones, and so the weak gravity conjecture is automatically satisfied. We also extend this analysis to a much wider class of Einstein-Maxwell theories coupled to additional massless matter fields and find the same result. We then go on to study one-loop divergences in $\mathcal{N} \geq 2$ supergravity and show that dyonic black holes in these theories are protected against one-loop quantum corrections, even if the black hole breaks supersymmetry. In particular, extremal dyonic black holes are stabilized by supersymmetry and cannot decay.