Twisted Sectors and Chern-Simons Terms in M-Theory Orbifolds

TL;DR

This paper determines the twisted sector spectrum and Chern-Simons interactions on M-theory orbifold fixed planes without gravitational anomalies, enabling the construction of more general and phenomenologically relevant orbifolds.

Contribution

It provides a method to compute twisted sectors and Chern-Simons terms on M-theory orbifolds, even in the absence of gravitational anomalies, expanding the scope of orbifold constructions.

Findings

Twisted sector spectrum can be determined without gravitational anomalies.

Fractional anomaly data is necessary for local anomaly cancellation.

Results are applicable to general M-theory orbifolds.

Abstract

It is shown that the twisted sector spectrum, as well as the associated Chern-Simons interactions, can be determined on M-theory orbifold fixed planes that do not admit gravitational anomalies. This is demonstrated for the seven-planes arising within the context of an explicit $R^6 \times S^1/Z_2 \times T^4/Z_2$ orbifold, although the results are completely general. Local anomaly cancellation in this context is shown to require fractional anomaly data that can only arise from a twisted sector on the seven-planes, thus determining the twisted spectrum up to a small ambiguity. These results open the door to the construction of arbitrary M-theory orbifolds, including those containing fixed four-planes which are of phenomenological interest.