In a toy model of gauge and gravitational interactions in D≥4
dimensions, endowed with an invariant UV cut-off Λ, and containing a
large number N of non-self-interacting matter species, the physical gauge and
gravitational couplings at the cut-off, αg≡g2ΛD−4 and
αG≡GNΛD−2, are shown to be bounded by appropriate
powers of N1. This implies that the infinite-bare-coupling (so-called
compositeness) limit of these theories is smooth, and can even resemble our
world. We argue that such a result, when extended to more realistic situations,
can help avoid large-N violations of entropy bounds, solve the dilaton
stabilization and GUT-scale problems in superstring theory, and provide a new
possible candidate for quintessence.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, minor modifications in notations and reference