The M-theory 3-form and E8 gauge theory

dc.creatorDiaconescu, Emanuel
dc.creatorFreed, Daniel S.
dc.creatorMoore, Gregory
dc.date2003-12-05
dc.date2004-03-23
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T04:16:18Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T04:16:18Z
dc.descriptionWe give a precise formulation of the M-theory 3-form potential C in a fashion applicable to topologically nontrivial situations. In our model the 3-form is related to the Chern-Simons form of an E8 gauge field. This leads to a precise version of the Chern-Simons interaction of 11-dimensional supergravity on manifolds with and without boundary. As an application of the formalism we give a formula for the electric C-field charge, as an integral cohomology class, induced by self-interactions of the 3-form and by gravity. As further applications, we identify the M-theory Chern-Simons term as a cubic refinement of a trilinear form, we clarify the physical nature of Witten's global anomaly for 5-brane partition functions, we clarify the relation of M-theory flux quantization to K-theoretic quantization of RR charge, and we indicate how the formalism can be applied to heterotic M-theory.
dc.description48pp. harvmac b-mode; v2: Several improvements added in response to the referee's comments. Typos fixed
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0312069
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0312069
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/52298
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.titleThe M-theory 3-form and E8 gauge theory
dc.typetext

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