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arXiv · 2406.11304

Flux Quantization on M5-branes

Grigorios Giotopoulos·Hisham Sati·Urs Schreiber
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Abstract

We highlight the need for global completion of the field content in the M5-brane sigma-model analogous to Dirac's charge/flux quantization, and we point out that the superspace Bianchi identities on the worldvolume and on its ambient supergravity background constrain the M5's flux-quantization law to be in a non-abelian cohomology theory rationally equivalent to a twisted form of co-Homotopy. In order to clearly bring out this subtle point we give a streamlined re-derivation of the worldvolume 3-flux via M5 "super-embeddings". Finally, assuming the flux-quantization law to actually be in co-Homotopy ("Hypothesis H") we show how this implies Skyrmion-like solitons on general M5-worldvolumes and (abelian) anyonic solitons on the boundaries of "open M5-branes" in heterotic M-theory.

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Grigorios Giotopoulos, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber. 2024-06-17. Flux Quantization on M5-branes. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep10(2024)140

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