Anomalies of E₈ gauge theory on string manifolds

In this paper we revisit the subject of anomaly cancelation in string theory and M-theory on manifolds with string structure and give three observations. First, that on string manifolds there is no E₈ × E₈ global anomaly in heterotic string theory. Second, that the description of the anomaly in the phase of the M-theory partition function of Diaconescu-Moore-Witten extends from the spin case to the string case. Third, that the cubic refinement law of Diaconescu-Freed-Moore for the phase of the M-theory partition function extends to string manifolds. The analysis relies on extending from invariants which depend on the spin structure to invariants which instead depend on the string structure. Along the way, the one-loop term is refined via the Witten genus.