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arXiv · 2402.18473

Flux Quantization

Hisham Sati·Urs Schreiber
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Abstract

Flux- and charge-quantization laws for higher gauge fields of Maxwell type -- e.g. the common electromagnetic field (the "A-field") but also the B-, RR-, and C-fields considered in string/M-theory -- specify non-perturbative completions of these fields by encoding their solitonic behaviour and hence by specifying the discrete charges carried by the individual branes (higher-dimensional monopoles or solitons) that source the field fluxes. This article surveys the general (rational-)homotopy theoretic understanding of flux- and charge-quantization via the Chern-Dold character map generalized to the non-linear (self-sourcing) Bianchi identities that appear in higher-dimensional supergravity theories, notably for B&RR-fields in D=10, for the C-field in D=11 supergravity, and for the B-field on fivebrane worldvolumes.

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Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber. 2024-02-28. Flux Quantization. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-323-95703-8.00078-1

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