$E_9$ symmetry in the Heterotic String on $S^1$ and the Weak Gravity Conjecture

Abstract

We show that compactifications of the heterotic string on a circle exhibit at the boundary of moduli space ($R\to 0$, or equivalently the decompactification limit $R \to \infty$) a tower of winding or momentum modes that enhance the $E_8 \times E_8$ or $SO(32)$ gauge symmetry to the affine algebras $(E_9 \oplus E_9)/\sim$ (the identification means that the two copies of $E_9$ share the same central extension) and $\hat{D}_{16}$, respectively. We also prove that these towers of modes satisfy the lattice Weak Gravity and Repulsive Force Conjectures.