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arXiv · 2505.24696

Cohomotopy and flux quantization in $M$-theory

Daniel Grady
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Abstract

We identify some of the $k$-invariants for the Postnikov tower of the stable and unstable 4-sphere. Assuming the stable Hypothesis H of Fiorenza--Sati--Schreiber, we use the resulting obstruction theory to prove that the Chern--Simons term in the effective action of M-theory is well defined. In particular, we do not assume the presence of an $E_8$-gauge field.

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Daniel Grady. 2025-05-30. Cohomotopy and flux quantization in $M$-theory. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24696

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