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28 votes
1 answer
2k views

In M-theory, what can hypothesis H tell us that quantization in ordinary cohomology cannot?

In classical field theory, many fields and related objects are described as differential forms. For example, in electromagnetism, the field $F := B - \mathrm dt\wedge E$ is a 2-form, and Maxwell's ...
24 votes
0 answers
1k views

p-Adic String Theory and the String-orientation of Topological Modular Forms (tmf)

I am going to ask a question, at the end below, on whether anyone has tried to make more explicit what should be, it seems to me, a close relation between p-adic string theory and the refinement of ...
27 votes
3 answers
2k views

What do whitehead towers have to do with physics?

First let me say something that I don't completely understand, since I do not know enough physics. If I say anything wrong, someone please tell me: For the spinning particle, there is a sigma-model, ...
9 votes
2 answers
740 views

Elliptic genus for manifolds with boundary

Let M be a closed spin manifold of dimension $d$. One form of the elliptic genus of $M$ is $$ F(q)=q^{-d/8} \hat A(M) {\rm ch} \otimes_{k=1/2,3/2,\cdots} \Lambda_{q^k}T \otimes_{\ell=1}^\infty S_{q^\...