Anomaly Cancellation Mechanism Research Articles

Anomaly cancellation in the topological string

We describe the coupling of holomorphic Chern-Simons theory at large N with Kodaira-Spencer gravity. We explain a new anomaly cancellation mechanism at all loops in perturbation theory for open-closed topological B-model. At one loop this anomaly cancellation is analogous to the Green-Schwarz mechanism. As an application, we introduce a type I version of Kodaira-Spencer theory in complex dimensions 3 and 5. In complex dimension 5, we show that it can only be coupled consistently at the quantum level to holomorphic Chern-Simons theory with gauge group SO(32). This is analogous to the Green-Schwarz mechanism for the physical type I string. This coupled system is conjectured to be a supersymmetric localization of type I string theory. In complex dimension 3, the required gauge group is SO(8).

6d SCFTs and U(1) flavour symmetries

We study the behaviour of abelian gauge symmetries in six-dimensional N = (1,0) theories upon decoupling gravity and investigate abelian flavour symmetries in the context of 6d N = (1, 0) SCFTs. From a supergravity perspective, the anomaly cancellation mechanism implies that abelian gauge symmetries can only survive as global symmetries as gravity is decoupled. The flavour symmetries obtained in this way are shown to be free of ABJ anomalies, and their ’t Hooft anomaly polynomial in the decoupling limit is obtained explicitly. In an F-theory realisation the decoupling of abelian gauge symmetries implies that a mathematical object known as the height pairing of a rational section is not contractible as a curve on the base of an elliptic Calabi-Yau threefold. We prove this prediction from supergravity by making use of the properties of the Mordell-Weil group of rational sections. In the second part of this paper we study the appearance of abelian flavour symmetries in 6d N = (1, 0) SCFTs. We elucidate both the geometric origin of such flavour symmetries in F-theory and their field theoretic interpretation in terms of suitable linear combinations of geometrically massive U(1)s. Our general results are illustrated in various explicit examples.

Anomaly flows

The Anomaly flow is a flow which implements the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism originating from superstring theory, while preserving the conformally balanced condition of Hermitian metrics. There are several versions of the flow, depending on whether the gauge field also varies, or is assumed known. A distinctive feature of Anomaly flows is that, in $m$ dimensions, the flow of the Hermitian metric has to be inferred from the flow of its $(m-1)$-th power $\omega^{m-1}$. We show how this can be done explicitly, and we work out the corresponding flows for the torsion and the curvature tensors. The results are applied to produce criteria for the long-time existence of the flow, in the simplest case of zero slope parameter.

The heterotic superpotential and moduli

We study the four-dimensional effective theory arising from ten-dimensional heterotic supergravity compactified on manifolds with torsion. In particular, given the heterotic superpotential appropriately corrected at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha')$ to account for the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism, we investigate properties of four-dimensional Minkowski vacua of this theory. Considering the restrictions arising from F-terms and D-terms we identify the infinitesimal massless moduli space of the theory. We show that it agrees with the results that have recently been obtained from a ten-dimensional perspective where supersymmetric Minkowski solutions including the Bianchi identity correspond to an integrable holomorphic structure, with infinitesimal moduli calculated by its first cohomology. As has recently been noted, interplay of complex structure and bundle deformations through holomorphic and anomaly constraints can lead to fewer moduli than may have been expected. We derive a relation between the number of complex structure and bundle moduli removed from the low energy theory in this way, and give conditions for there to be no complex structure moduli or bundle moduli remaining in the low energy theory. The link between Yukawa couplings and obstruction theory is also briefly discussed.

Green-Schwarz mechanism and α′-deformed Courant brackets

We establish that the unusual two-form gauge transformations needed in the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism fit naturally into an $\alpha'$-deformed generalized geometry. The algebra of gauge transformations is a consistent deformation of the Courant bracket and features a nontrivial modification of the diffeomorphism group. This extension of generalized geometry emerged from a `doubled $\alpha'$-geometry', which provides a construction of exactly gauge and T-duality invariant $\alpha'$ corrections to the effective action.

Double field theory at order α′

We investigate α′ corrections of bosonic strings in the framework of double field theory. The previously introduced “doubled α′-geometry” gives α′-deformed gauge transformations arising in the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism but does not apply to bosonic strings. These require a different deformation of the duality-covariantized Courant bracket which governs the gauge structure. This is revealed by examining the α′ corrections in the gauge algebra of closed string field theory. We construct a four-derivative cubic double field theory action invariant under the deformed gauge transformations, giving a first glimpse of the gauge principle underlying bosonic string α′ corrections. The usual metric and b-field are related to the duality covariant fields by non-covariant field redefinitions.

Supersymmetry Breaking in a Minimal Anomalous Extension of the MSSM

We study a supersymmetry breaking mechanism in the context of a minimal anomalous extension of the MSSM. The anomaly cancellation mechanism is achieved through suitable counterterms in the effective action, that is, the Green-Schwarz terms. We assume that the standard MSSM superpotential is perturbatively realized; that is, all terms allowed by gauge symmetries except for the μ-term which has a nonperturbative origin. The presence of this term is expected in many intersecting D-brane models which can be considered as the ultraviolet completion of our model. We show how soft supersymmetry breaking terms arise in this framework, and we study the effect of some phenomenological constraints on this scenario.

Twisted Differential String and Fivebrane Structures

In the background effective field theory of heterotic string theory, the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism plays a key role. Here we reinterpret it and its magnetic dual version in terms of differential twisted String- and differential twisted Fivebrane-structures that generalize the notion of Spin-structures and Spin-lifting gerbes and their differential refinement to smooth Spin-connections. We show that all these structures can be encoded in terms of nonabelian cohomology, twisted nonabelian cohomology, and differential twisted nonabelian cohomology, extending the differential generalized abelian cohomology as developed by Hopkins and Singer and shown by Freed to formalize the global description of anomaly cancellation problems in higher gauge theories arising in string theory. We demonstrate that the Green-Schwarz mechanism for the H_3-field, as well as its magnetic dual version for the H_7-field define cocycles in differential twisted nonabelian cohomology that may be called, respectively, differential twisted Spin(n)-, String(n)- and Fivebrane(n)-structures on target space, where the twist in each case is provided by the obstruction to lifting the classifying map of the gauge bundle through a higher connected cover of U(n) or O(n). We show that the twisted Bianchi identities in string theory can be captured by the (nonabelian) L-infinity-algebra valued differential form data provided by the differential refinements of these twisted cocycles.

Mixed mediation of supersymmetry breaking with anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry

Models with anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry contain various superfields which can have nonzero supersymmetry breaking auxiliary components providing the origin of soft terms in the visible sector, e.g. the U(1) vector superfield, the modulus or dilaton superfield implementing the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism, U(1)-charged but standard model singlet matter superfield required to cancel the Fayet-Iliopoulos term, and finally the supergravity multiplet. We examine the relative strength between these supersymmetry breaking components in a simple class of models, and find that various different mixed mediations of supersymmetry breaking, involving the modulus, gauge, anomaly and D-term mediations, can be realized depending upon the characteristics of D-flat directions and how those D-flat directions are stabilized with a vanishing cosmological constant. We identify two parameters which represent such properties and thus characterize how the various mediations are mixed. We also discuss the moduli stabilization and soft terms in a variant of KKLT scenario, in which the visible sector Kähler modulus is stabilized by the D-term potential of anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry.

Mixed Mediation of Supersymmetry Breaking in Models with Anomalous U(1) Gauge Symmetry

There can be various built-in sources of supersymmetry breaking in models with anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry, e.g. the U(1) D-term, the F-components of the modulus superfield required for the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism and the chiral matter superfields required to cancel the Fayet-Iliopoulos term, and finally the supergravity auxiliary component which can be parameterized by the F-component of chiral compensator. The relative strength between these supersymmetry breaking sources depends crucially on the characteristics of D-flat direction and also on how the D-flat direction is stabilized at a vacuum with nearly vanishing cosmological constant. We examine the possible pattern of the mediation of supersymmetry breaking in models with anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry, and find that various different mixed mediation scenarios can be realized, including the mirage mediation which corresponds to a mixed modulus-anomaly mediation, D-term domination giving a split sparticle spectrum, and also a mixed gauge-D-term mediation scenario.

The role of the anomaly cancellation mechanism in the evaluation of the radiatively induced Chern–Simons term in extended QED

The role of the anomaly cancellation mechanism in the evaluation of the radiatively induced Chern–Simons term in extended QED

The role of the anomaly cancellation mechanism in the evaluation of the radiatively induced Chern-Simons term in extended QED

We consider the possible role played by the anomaly cancellation mechanism in the evaluation of the radiatively induced Chern-Simons (CS) term, arising from the Lorentz and CPT non-invariant fermionic sector, of an extended version of QED. We explicit evaluate the most general mathematical structure associated to the AVV triangle amplitude, closely related to the one involved in the CS term evaluation, using for this purposes an alternative calculational strategy to handle divergences in QFT’s. We show that the requirement of consistency with the choices made in the construction of the Standard Model’s renormalizability, in the evaluation of the AVV Green function, leave no room for a nonvanishing radiatively induced CS term, independently of the regularization prescription or equivalent philosophy adopted, in accordance with what was previously conjectured by other authors.

Neveu-Schwarz 5-branes in type-IIA supergravity and gravitational anomalies

We construct a gravitational-anomaly-free effective action for the coupled system of type-IIA $D=10$ dynamical supergravity interacting with a NS5-brane. The NS5-brane is considered as elementary in that the associated current is a $\ensuremath{\delta}$ function supported on its world volume. Our approach is based on a Chern kernel which encodes the singularities of the three-form field strength near the brane in an SO(4)-invariant way and provides a solution for its Bianchi identity in terms of a two-form potential. A dimensional reduction of the recently constructed anomaly-free effective action for an elementary M5-brane in $D=11$ is seen to reproduce our ten-dimensional action. The Chern-kernel approach provides in particular a concrete realization of the anomaly cancellation mechanism envisaged by Witten.

Interacting branes, dual branes, and dyonic branes: a unifying lagrangian approach in D dimensions

This paper presents a general covariant lagrangian framework for the dynamics of a system of closed n-branes and dual (D-n-4)-branes in D dimensions, interacting with a dynamical (n+1)-form gauge potential. The framework proves sufficiently general to include also a coupling of the branes to (the bosonic sector of) a dynamical supergravity theory. We provide a manifestly Lorentz-invariant and S-duality symmetric Lagrangian, involving the (n+1)-form gauge potential and its dual (D-n-3)-form gauge potential in a symmetric way. The corresponding action depends on generalized Dirac-strings. The requirement of string-independence of the action leads to Dirac-Schwinger quantization conditions for the charges of branes and dual branes, but produces also additional constraints on the possible interactions. It turns out that a system of interacting dyonic branes admits two quantum mechanically inequivalent formulations, involving inequivalent quantization conditions. Asymmetric formulations involving only a single vector potential are also given. For the special cases of dyonic branes in even dimensions known results are easily recovered. As a relevant application of the method we write an effective action which implements the inflow anomaly cancellation mechanism for interacting heterotic strings and five-branes in D=10. A consistent realization of this mechanism requires, in fact, dynamical p-form potentials and a systematic introduction of Dirac-strings.

K-theory in quantum field theory

We survey three different ways in which K-theory in all its forms enters quantum field theory. In Part 1 we give a general argument which relates topological field theory in codimension two with twisted K-theory, and we illustrate with some finite models. Part 2 is a review of pfaffians of Dirac operators, anomalies, and the relationship to differential K-theory. Part 3 is a geometric exposition of Dirac charge quantization, which in superstring theories also involves differential K-theory. Parts 2 and 3 are related by the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism. An appendix, joint with Jerry Jenquin, treats the partition function of Rarita-Schwinger fields.

Fivebrane gravitational anomalies

Freed, Harvey, Minasian and Moore (FHMM) have proposed a mechanism to cancel the gravitational anomaly of the M-theory fivebrane coming from diffeomorphisms acting on the normal bundle. This procedure is based on a modification of the conventional M-theory Chern–Simons term. We apply the FHMM mechanism in the ten-dimensional type IIA theory. We then analyze the relation to the anomaly cancellation mechanism for the type IIA fivebrane proposed by Witten.

THE N=2 VECTOR–TENSOR MULTIPLET, CENTRAL CHARGE SUPERSPACE, AND CHERN–SIMONS COUPLINGS

We present a new, alternative interpretation of the vector–tensor multiplet as a two-form in central charge superspace. This approach provides a geometric description of the (nontrivial) central charge transformations ab initio and is naturally generalized to include couplings of Chern–Simons forms to the antisymmetric tensor gauge field, giving rise to a N=2 supersymmetric version of the Green–Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism.

N = 1, D = 6 supergravity: Duality and non-minimal couplings

Six-dimensional supergravity theories and their duality properties play a central role in the context of string duality and string compactifications. Lowering dimensions usually leads to an increasing complexity of theories; in this respect six dimensions seem to constitute an appropriate compromise between the physical four and the presumably more fundamental ten or eleven dimensions. In this paper we present a superspace formulation of N = l, D = 6 supergravity with one tensor multiplet and an arbitrary number of vector- and hypermultiplets, in which the bosonic abelian superforms of the theory, the dilaton, the abelian gauge fields and the two-form are replaced by their S-duals i.e. four-, three- and two-superforms respectively, in compatibility with supersymmetry. As usual this replacement interchanges Bianchi identities with equations of motion. This formulation holds in the presence of one tensor multiplet and arbitrary numbers of hypermultiplets and abelian super-Maxwell multiplets if all couplings are minimal. We determine the consistency conditions for non-minimal couplings in N = 1, D = 6 supergravity, for which we present a particularly significant solution, namely the one associated with the Chem-SimonsLorentz three-form which entails the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism. In the case of non-minimal couplings it is found that the gauge fields and the two-form can still be dualized while the dilaton has to remain a zero-form.

A model of Yukawa hierarchies

We present a model for the observed hierarchies among the Yukawa couplings of the standard model in the context of an effective low enegy theory with an anomalous U (1) symmetry. This symmetry, a generic feature of superstring compactification, is a remnant of the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism. The gauge group is that of the standard model, augmented by X , the anomalous U (1), and two family-dependent phase symmetries Y (1) and Y (2) . The correct hierarchies are reproduced only when sin 2 θ w = 3 8 at the cut-off. To cancel anomalies, right-handed neutrinos and other standard model singlets must be introduced. Independently of the charges of the right-handed neutrinos, this model produces the same neutrino mixing matrix and an inverted hierarchy of neutrino masses. The heaviest is the electron neutrino with a mass ∼ 1 meV, and mixing of the order of λ c 3 with each of the other two neutrinos.

BRST Cohomology of the Chapline–Manton Model

We completely compute the local BRST cohomology $H(s|d)$ of the combined Yang-Mills-2-form system coupled through the Yang-Mills Chern-Simons term ("Chapline-Manton model"). We consider the case of a simple gauge group and explicitely include in the analysis the sources for the BRST variations of the fields ("antifields"). We show that there is an antifield independent representative in each cohomological class of $H(s|d)$ at ghost number 0 or 1. Accordingly, any counterterm may be assumed to preserve the gauge symmetries. Similarly, there is no new candidate anomaly beside those already considered in the literature, even when one takes the antifields into account. We then characterize explicitly all the non-trivial solutions of the Wess-Zumino consistency conditions. In particular, we provide a cohomological interpretation of the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism.