ABSTRACT
Stable nonsupersymmetric anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacua of string theory are widely believed not to exist. In this Letter, we analytically compute the full bosonic Kaluza-Klein spectrum around the G_{2}-invariant nonsupersymmetric AdS_{4} solution of massive IIA supergravity and show that it is perturbatively stable. We also provide evidence that six other nonsupersymmetric AdS_{4} solutions of massive IIA supergravity are perturbatively stable. Since previous studies have indicated that these AdS vacua may also be nonperturbatively stable, our findings pose a challenge to the swampland conjecture.
ABSTRACT
Exceptional field theories yield duality covariant formulations of supergravity. We show that they provide a highly efficient tool to compute the Kaluza-Klein mass spectra associated with compactifications around various background geometries relevant for string theory and holographic applications. This includes geometries with little to no remaining symmetries, hardly accessible to standard methods. As an illustration, we determine the masses of some higher Kaluza-Klein multiplets around warped geometries corresponding to some prominent N=2 supersymmetric anti-de Sitter vacua in maximal supergravity.
