On the Derivation of Twisted K-Theory from M-Theory
Abstract
In a restricted untwisted sector, Diaconescu, Moore & Witten (2000, 2003) gave a quantum M-theoretic consistency check, at the level of partition functions, of what one may call "Hypothesis K", namely that magnetic and electric type IIA brane charges are jointly quantized in K-theory. We show that the more recently discussed "Hypothesis H" --- that magnetic and electric charges in 11D are jointly quantized in coHomotopy --- together with a topological smallness condition on the M-theory circle, systematically implies that IIA charges are quantized in a nonabelian deformation of twisted K-theory by the previously neglected non-linear NS1-brane charge. This is essentially a derivation of twisted K-theory from IR-completed 11D SuGra, and conversely a further consistency check on Hypothesis H from Hypothesis K. We motivate and precisely state this result, discuss its structural implications, and outline the elaborate algebro-topological proof.
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BibTeX
@misc{golub2026derivation,
title = {{On the Derivation of Twisted K-Theory from M-Theory}},
author = {Nikita Golub and Hisham Sati and Urs Schreiber},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.36048},
eprint = {2609.36048},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.36048},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - On the Derivation of Twisted K-Theory from M-Theory
AU - Nikita Golub
AU - Hisham Sati
AU - Urs Schreiber
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.36048
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.36048
AB - In a restricted untwisted sector, Diaconescu, Moore & Witten (2000, 2003) gave a quantum M-theoretic consistency check, at the level of partition functions, of what one may call "Hypothesis K", namely that magnetic and electric type IIA brane charges are jointly quantized in K-theory. We show that the more recently discussed "Hypothesis H" --- that magnetic and electric charges in 11D are jointly quantized in coHomotopy --- together with a topological smallness condition on the M-theory circle, systematically implies that IIA charges are quantized in a nonabelian deformation of twisted K-theory by the previously neglected non-linear NS1-brane charge. This is essentially a derivation of twisted K-theory from IR-completed 11D SuGra, and conversely a further consistency check on Hypothesis H from Hypothesis K. We motivate and precisely state this result, discuss its structural implications, and outline the elaborate algebro-topological proof.
ER -