Strong AdS Distance Conjecture (SADC)

Establish the Strong AdS Distance Conjecture by proving that, in any anti–de Sitter (AdS) vacuum described by Einstein gravity, there exists a tower of states with mass m satisfying m^2 < A |Λ_AdS| for some order-one constant A.

Background

The Strong AdS Distance Conjecture (SADC) is motivated by universal features observed near infinite-distance limits in string-theoretic moduli spaces, where towers of light states emerge and the quantum gravity cutoff decreases exponentially with scalar variations. Establishing SADC places strong constraints on the existence of scale-separated AdS vacua and is central to delineating the string landscape from the swampland.

In this paper, SADC is one of two central conjectures the authors focus on. They develop holographic arguments and consistency conditions that, while not proving SADC in full generality, yield robust constraints and special cases consistent with the conjecture’s implications, particularly ruling out certain proposed constructions of AdS vacua.

References

Strong AdS Distance Conjecture (SADC) In any AdS vacuum described by Einstein gravity, there exists a tower of states with mass $m$ satisfying \begin{align} m2 < A\,|\Lambda_{\rm AdS}|\,, \end{align} where $A$ is an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ constant.

— Holographic Constraints on the String Landscape (2511.15784 - Bedroya et al., 19 Nov 2025) in Introduction (Section 1)