The anomaly that was not meant IIB. Issue 1 (18th December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Debray, Arun; Dierigl, Markus; Heckman, Jonathan J.; Montero, Miguel
• Is Part Of: Fortschritte der Physik. Volume 70:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-12-18
• Subjects: anomalies -- bordism Groups -- duality; Physics -- Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1002/prop.202100168
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0015-8208

Abstract

Abstract: Type IIB supergravity enjoys a discrete non‐Abelian duality group, which has potential quantum anomalies. In this paper we explicitly compute these, and present the bordism group that controls them, modulo some physically motivated assumptions. Quite surprisingly, we find that they do not vanish, which naively would signal an inconsistency of F‐theory. Remarkably, a subtle modification of the standard 10d Chern‐Simons term cancels these anomalies, a fact which relies on the specific field content of type IIB supergravity. We also discover other ways to cancel this anomaly, via a topological analog of the Green‐Schwarz mechanism. These alternative type IIB theories have the same low energy supergravity limit as ordinary type IIB, but a different spectrum of extended objects. They could either be part of the Swampland, or connect to the standard theory via domain walls. Abstract : Type IIB supergravity enjoys a discrete non‐Abelian duality group, which has potential quantum anomalies. In this paper the authors explicitly compute these, and present the bordism group that controls them, modulo some physically motivated assumptions. Quite surprisingly, they find that they do not vanish, which naively would signal an inconsistency of F‐theory. Remarkably, a subtle modification of the standard 10d Chern‐Simons term cancels these anomalies, a fact which relies on the specific field content of type IIB supergravity. The authors also discover other ways to cancel this anomaly, via a topological analog of the Green‐Schwarz mechanism. These alternative type IIB theories have the same low energy supergravity limit as ordinary type IIB, but a different spectrum of extended objects. They could either be part of the Swampland, or connect to the standard theory via domain walls.