String Tension between de Sitter vacua and Curvature Corrections

Abstract

Higher-derivative corrections to cosmological effective actions in string theory are largely constrained by T-duality, but have been computed hitherto only to the first few orders in the string scale $\alpha'$. The functional renormalization group, in conjunction with the strong constraints imposed by T-duality, allows to derive cosmological effective actions to all orders in $\alpha'$ while avoiding "truncations" of the theory space. We show that the resulting higher-derivative $\alpha'$-corrections forbid the existence of de Sitter vacua, at least in regimes where string-loop corrections can be neglected. Our findings thus support the implications of the no-de Sitter swampland conjecture in the presence of all-order effects in $\alpha'$.