Twisted Cohomotopy Implies Level Quantization of the Full 6d Wess-Zumino Term of the M5-Brane

Domenico Fiorenza, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The full 6d Hopf–Wess–Zumino term in the action functional for the M5-brane is anomalous as traditionally defined. What has been missing is a condition implying the higher analogue of level quantization familiar from the 2d Wess–Zumino term. We prove that the anomaly cancellation condition is implied by the hypothesis that the C-field is charge-quantized in twisted Cohomotopy theory. The proof follows by a twisted/parametrized generalization of the Hopf invariant, after identifying the full 6d Hopf–Wess–Zumino term with a twisted homotopy Whitehead integral formula, which we establish.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)403-432
Number of pages30
JournalCommunications In Mathematical Physics
Volume384
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Mathematical Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Twisted Cohomotopy Implies Level Quantization of the Full 6d Wess-Zumino Term of the M5-Brane'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this