Anomalies in String Theory with D-Branes

TL;DR

This paper investigates global anomalies in Type II string theories with D-branes, revealing how anomaly cancellation constrains D-brane topology and supports interpreting D-brane charge via K-theory.

Contribution

It establishes a link between anomaly cancellation conditions and D-brane topologies, providing a K-theoretic interpretation of D-brane charges.

Findings

Global anomaly cancellation restricts D-brane topology.

D-brane charge can be interpreted as an element of K-theory.

Provides a topological consistency condition for string theories with D-branes.

Abstract

We analyze global anomalies for elementary Type II strings in the presence of D-branes. Global anomaly cancellation gives a restriction on the D-brane topology. This restriction makes possible the interpretation of D-brane charge as an element of K-theory.