Comments on the Transplanckian Censorship Conjecture

Abstract

We consider some aspects of the Transplanckian Censorship Conjecture, which states that for theories of quantum gravity which yield a quintessence universe, there is a limit on the lifetime of the state not too different than the current Hubble horizon. We consider some aspects of tunneling in the presence of time-varying fields, and note that lifetimes can be parameterically quite large. We consider what it might mean to find a quintessence potential in string theory, and argue that such states are likely to have very long lifetimes.