On Isolated Vacua and Background Independence

TL;DR

The paper probes whether isolated vacua in AFM-M-theory with four supercharges can be considered part of the same quantum theory as other disconnected moduli components. By combining domain-wall analyses with a gravity-coupled bubble framework, it shows that gravitational effects prevent the existence or observation of arbitrarily large bubbles of a different vacuum, yielding a maximal size bound $R_{ ext{max}} < \frac{M_P^2}{M^2 m}$. This implies that, unlike continuous moduli spaces at higher SUSY, the quantum moduli space for $N=1$ is likely composed of disconnected sectors inaccessible to each other via conventional probes. The work highlights a deep UV/IR interplay through black hole physics, challenging the notion of a single unifying theory across disconnected vacua and raising questions about connections to weakly coupled regimes and potential non-SUSY vacua.

Abstract

I argue that isolated vacua of M-theory, cannot in any conventional way be said to live in the same theory as other disconnected parts of the moduli space. The usual field theoretic mechanisms, which allow an observer in one disconnected component of a moduli space to verify the existence of other components, fail. The failure is a consequence of robust properties of black holes. When barriers between components are much smaller than the Planck scale, the usual field theoretic picture is approximately valid.