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Computational complexity of the landscape I

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arxiv hep-th/0602072 v2 pith:NZDFL3MX submitted 2006-02-07 hep-th cs.CC

Computational complexity of the landscape I

classification hep-th cs.CC
keywords vacuumcomplexitycomputationalfindmightproblemstringtheory
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We study the computational complexity of the physical problem of finding vacua of string theory which agree with data, such as the cosmological constant, and show that such problems are typically NP hard. In particular, we prove that in the Bousso-Polchinski model, the problem is NP complete. We discuss the issues this raises and the possibility that, even if we were to find compelling evidence that some vacuum of string theory describes our universe, we might never be able to find that vacuum explicitly. In a companion paper, we apply this point of view to the question of how early cosmology might select a vacuum.

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Cited by 3 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Small Vacuum Energy and Tunneling in a Modified Bousso-Polchinski Model

    hep-th 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    In a wafer-modified Bousso-Polchinski model, 99.95% of the 532 million Calabi-Yau fourfold configurations in the Schöller-Skarke database allow vacuum energy spacings of 10^{-120} or smaller, with membrane nucleation ...

  2. What to do with a Ricci-flat Calabi--Yau metric?

    hep-th 2026-05 conditional novelty 3.0

    Numerical Ricci-flat Calabi–Yau metrics turn string compactifications from topological existence statements into computable geometries, unlocking normalized couplings, spectra, and metric-level tests of mirror symmetry.

  3. What to do with a Ricci-flat Calabi--Yau metric?

    hep-th 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 2.0

    A roadmap paper describing potential applications of numerical Ricci-flat Calabi-Yau metrics to heterotic string phenomenology and mathematical questions in special geometry.