arXiv research

Study characterizes cohomology and homotopy types for M-theory extensions.

It has been shown that the Alvarez-Gaum$\mathrm{\acute{e}}$-Witten miraculous anomaly cancellation formula in type IIB superstring theory and its various generalizations can be derived from modularity of certain characteristic forms. In this paper, we show that the Green-Schwarz formula and the Schwarz-Witten formula i…

Recent work applying higher gauge theory to the superstring has indicated the presence of 'higher symmetry', and the same methods work for the super-2-brane. In the previous paper in this series, we used a geometric technique to construct a 'Lie 2-supergroup' extending the Poincare supergroup in precisely those spaceti…

Scheme resolves super-brane topology via equivariant structures.

In this paper we show that both of the Green-Schwarz anomaly factorization formula for the gauge group $E_8\times E_8$ and the Hořava-Witten anomaly factorization formula for the gauge group $E_8$ can be derived through modular forms of weight 14. This answers a question of J. H. Schwarz. We also establish generalizati…

In the background effective field theory of heterotic string theory, the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism plays a key role. Here we reinterpret it and its magnetic dual version in terms of differential twisted String- and differential twisted Fivebrane-structures that generalize the notion of Spin-structure…

We consider Yang-Mills theory with a matrix gauge group $G$ on a direct product manifold $M=Σ_2\times H^2$, where $Σ_2$ is a two-dimensional Lorentzian manifold and $H^2$ is a two-dimensional open disc with the boundary $S^1=\partial H^2$. The Euler-Lagrange equations for the metric on $Σ_2$ yield constraint equations …

Supersymmetry is deeply related to division algebras. Nonabelian Yang-Mills fields minimally coupled to massless spinors are supersymmetric if and only if the dimension of spacetime is 3, 4, 6 or 10. The same is true for the Green-Schwarz superstring. In both cases, supersymmetry relies on the vanishing of a certain tr…

We survey three different ways in which K-theory in all its forms enters quantum field theory. In Part 1 we give a general argument which relates topological field theory in codimension two with twisted K-theory, and we illustrate with some finite models. Part 2 is a review of pfaffians of Dirac operators, anomalies, a…

The Anomaly flow is a flow which implements the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism originating from superstring theory, while preserving the conformally balanced condition of Hermitian metrics. There are several versions of the flow, depending on whether the gauge field also varies, or is assumed known. A dis…

In this sequel to works D(11.1) (arXiv:1406.0929 [math.DG]), D(11.2) (arXiv:1412.0771 [hep-th]), and D(11.3.1) (arXiv:1508.02347 [math.DG]), we re-examine --- and reformulate when in need --- several basic notions in super $C^{\infty}$-algebraic geometry as guided by the mathematical formulation of Ramond-Neveu-Schwarz…

We study the cohomological physics of fivebranes in type II and heterotic string theory. We give an interpretation of the one-loop term in type IIA, which involves the first and second Pontrjagin classes of spacetime, in terms of obstructions to having bundles with certain structure groups. Using a generalization of th…

Novel Lie-superalgebraic description of superstring dynamics.

A key open problem in M-theory is the identification of the degrees of freedom that are expected to be hidden at ADE-singularities in spacetime. Comparison with the classification of D-branes by K-theory suggests that the answer must come from the right choice of generalized cohomology theory for M-branes. Here we show…

We consider Yang-Mills theory with $N=2$ super translation group in $d=10$ auxiliary dimensions as the structure group. The gauge theory is defined on a direct product manifold $Σ_2\times H^2$, where $Σ_2$ is a two-dimensional Lorentzian manifold and $H^2$ is the open disc in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with the boundary $S^1=\part…

We study the four-dimensional effective theory arising from ten-dimensional heterotic supergravity compactified on manifolds with torsion. In particular, given the heterotic superpotential appropriately corrected at $\mathcal{O}(α')$ to account for the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism, we investigate proper…

In this Part II of D(11), we introduce new objects: super-$C^k$-schemes and Azumaya super-$C^k$-manifolds with a fundamental module (or, synonymously, matrix super-$C^k$-manifolds with a fundamental module), and extend the study in D(11.1) ([L-Y3], arXiv:1406.0929 [math.DG]) to define the notion of `differentiable maps…

The main new result here is the cancellation of global anomalies in the Type I superstring, with and without D-branes. Our argument here depends on a precise interpretation of the 2-form abelian gauge field using KO-theory; then the anomaly cancellation follows from a geometric form of the full Atiyah-Singer index theo…

New mathematical framework connects M-theory charges to stable homotopy groups.

New construction reveals SU(2)-flavor fields in heterotic M5-brane model.