No Arabic abstract
We introduce a differential refinement of Cohomotopy cohomology theory, defined on Penrose diagram spacetimes, whose cocycle spaces are unordered configuration spaces of points. First we prove that brane charge quantization in this differential 4-Cohomotopy theory implies intersecting p/(p+2)-brane moduli given by ordered configurations of points in the transversal 3-space. Then we show that the higher (co-)observables on these brane moduli, conceived as the (co-)homology of the Cohomotopy cocycle space, are given by weight systems on horizontal chord diagrams and reflect a multitude of effects expected in the microscopic quantum theory of Dp/D(p+2)-brane intersections: condensation to stacks of coincident branes and their Chan-Paton factors, BMN matrix model and fuzzy funnel states, M2-brane 3-algebras, the Hanany-Witten rules, AdS3-gravity observables, supersymmetric indices of Coulomb branches as well as gauge/gravity duality between all these. We discuss this in the context of the hypothesis that the M-theory C-field is charge-quantized in Cohomotopy theory.
We highlight what seems to be a remaining subtlety in the argument for the cancellation of the total anomaly associated with the M5-brane in M-theory. Then we prove that this subtlety is resolved under the hypothesis that the C-field flux is charge-quantized in the generalized cohomology theory called J-twisted Cohomotopy.
There are fundamental open problems in the precise global nature of RR-field tadpole cancellation conditions in string theory. Moreover, the non-perturbative lift as M5/MO5-anomaly cancellation in M-theory had been based on indirect plausibility arguments,lacking a microscopic underpinning in M-brane charge quantization. We provide a framework for answering these questions, crucial not only for mathematical consistency but also for phenomenological accuracy of string theory, by formulating the M-theory C-field on flat M-orientifolds in the generalized cohomology theory called Equivariant Cohomotopy. This builds on our previous results for smooth but curved spacetimes, showing in that setting that charge quantization in twisted Cohomotopy rigorously implies a list of expected anomaly cancellation conditions. Here we further expand this list by proving that brane charge quantization in unstable equivariant Cohomotopy implies the anomaly cancellation conditions for M-branes and D-branes on flat orbi-orientifolds. For this we (a) use an unstable refinement of the equivariant Hopf-tom Dieck theorem to derive local/twisted tadpole cancellation, and (b) the lift to super-differential cohomology to establish global/untwisted tadpole cancellation. Throughout, we use (c) the unstable Pontrjagin-Thom theorem to identify the brane/O-plane configurations encoded in equivariant Cohomotopy and (d) the Boardman homomorphism to equivariant K-theory to identify Chan-Paton representations of D-brane charge. We find that unstable equivariant Cohomotopy, but not its image in K-theory, distinguishes D-brane charge from the finite set of types of O-plane charges.
We characterize the integral cohomology and the rational homotopy type of the maximal Borel-equivariantization of the combined Hopf/twistor fibration, and find that subtle relations satisfied by the cohomology generators are just those that govern Horava-Wittens proposal for the extension of the Green-Schwarz mechanism from heterotic string theory to heterotic M-theory. We discuss how this squares with the Hypothesis H that the elusive mathematical foundation of M-theory is based on charge quantization in J-twisted Cohomotopy theory.
We show that charge-quantization of the M-theory C-field in J-twisted Cohomotopy implies emergence of a higher Sp(1)-gauge field on single heterotic M5-branes, which exhibits worldvolume twisted String structure.
In this paper we study dynamical supersymmetry breaking in absence of gravity with the matter content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The hidden sector of the theory is a strongly coupled gauge theory, realized in terms of microscopic variables which condensate to form mesons. The supersymmetry breaking scalar potential combines F, D terms with instanton generated interactions in the Higgs-mesons sector. We show that for a large region in parameter space the vacuum breaks in addition to supersymmetry also electroweak gauge symmetry. We furthermore present local D-brane configurations that realize these supersymmetry breaking patterns.