Flux Quantization of Type IIA in Unstable K-Theory
High Energy Physics - Theory
2026-05-26 v1 Mathematical Physics
Algebraic Topology
K-Theory and Homology
math.MP
Abstract
The traditional conjecture that RR-flux is quantized in stable K-cohomology fails to account for the presence of NS-brane sources: These impose nonlinear relations -- reductions of the famous quadratic relation on M-brane flux -- that can only be captured by unstable nonabelian cohomology theories. Here we consider a deformation of unstable K-theory which properly quantizes the fluxes coupling to D0/D2/NS5-branes, find a twisted version that quantizes also the fluxes coupling to NS1/D4-branes, and show that this oxidizes to a proper electromagnetic quantization of M-brane fluxes.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.25035,
title = {Flux Quantization of Type IIA in Unstable K-Theory},
author = {Pinak Banerjee and Hisham Sati and Urs Schreiber},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.25035},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
26 pages, 3 figures