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Global Worldsheet Anomalies from M-Theory

James Sparks
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Abstract

We present an M-theory proof of the anomaly of Freed and Witten which in general shifts the quantisation law for the U(1) gauge field on a D6-brane. The derivation requires an understanding of how fields on the D6-brane lift to M-theory, together with a localisation formula which we prove using a U(1)-index theorem. We also show how the anomaly is related to the K-theory classification of Ramond-Ramond fields. In addition we discuss the M-theory origin of the D6-brane effective action, and illustrate the general arguments with a concrete example.

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James Sparks. 2004-09-13. Global Worldsheet Anomalies from M-Theory. https://doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708%2F2004%2F08%2F037

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