We take a worldsheet point of view on the relation between Ramond-Ramond charges, invariants of boundary renormalization group flows and K-theory. In compact super Wess-Zumino-Witten models, we show how to associate invariants of the generalized Kondo renormalization group flows to a given supersymmetric boundary state. The procedure involved is reminiscent of the way one can probe the Ramond-Ramond charge carried by a D-brane in conformal field theory, and the set of these invariants is isomorphic to the twisted K-theory of the Lie group. We construct various supersymmetric boundary states, and we compute the charges of the corresponding D-branes, disproving two conjectures on this subject. We find a complete agreement between our algebraic charges and the geometry of the D-branes.
Using recent results of the author along with Vander Werf, we present the classification and construction of mirror-twisted modules for N=2 supersymmetric vertex operator superalgebras of the form $V \otimes V$ for the signed transposition mirror map automorphism. In particular, we show that the category of such mirror-twisted sectors for $V\otimes V$ is isomorphic to the category of N=1 Ramond sectors for $V$.
An action for the ten-dimensional Green-Schwarz superstring with N=2 worldsheet superconformal invariance has recently been used to calculate superstring scattering amplitudes and prove their finiteness. In this paper, it is shown that the N=2 stress-energy tensor for this Green-Schwarz action can be constructed out of the stress-energy tensor and ghosts of the Neveu- Schwarz-Ramond action by the standard twisting procedure. In other words, a field redefinition is found from the GS matter fields into the NSR matter and ghost fields which transforms the matter part of the two fermionic GS super…
We explore the Ramond sector of the deformed two-dimensional $\cal N = (4, 4)$ superconformal $(T^4)^N /S_N$ orbifold theory, describing bound states of D1-D5 brane system in type IIB superstring. We derive the large-$N$ limit of the four-point function of two R-charged twisted Ramond fields and two marginal deformation operators at the free orbifold point. Specific short-distance limits of this function provide several structure constants, the OPE fusion rules and the conformal dimensions of a few non-BPS operators. The second order correction (in the deformation parameter) to the two-point f…
We present the general form of the operators that lift the group action on the twisted sectors of a bosonic string on an orbifold ${\cal M}/G$, in the presence of a Kalb-Ramond field strength $H$. These operators turn out to generate the quasi-quantum group $D_ω[G]$, introduced in the context of orbifold conformal field theory by R. Dijkgraaf, V. Pasquier and P. Roche. The 3-cocycle $ω$ entering in the definition of $D_ω[G]$ is related to $H$ by a series of cohomological equations in a tricomplex combining de Rham, Cech and group coboundaries. We construct magnetic amplitudes for the twisted s…
We examine the behavior of the Ramond ground states in the D1-D5 CFT after a deformation of the free-orbifold sigma model on target space $({\mathbb T}^4)^N / S_N$ by a marginal interaction operator. These states are compositions of Ramond ground states of the twisted and untwisted sectors. They are characterized by a conjugacy class of $S_N$ and by the set of their "spins", including both R-charge and "internal" SU(2) charge. We compute the four-point functions of an arbitrary Ramond ground state with its conjugate and two interaction operators, for genus-zero covering surfaces representing t…
We use the BRST formalism to classify the gauge orbits of type II string theory's Ramond-Ramond (RR) field strengths under large RR gauge transformations of the RR gauge potentials. We find that this construction is identical to the Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence construction of twisted K-theory, where the Atiyah-Hirzebruch differentials are the BRST operators. The actions of the large gauge transformations on the field strengths that lie in an integral lattice of de Rham cohomology are found using supergravity, while the action on Z_2 torsion classes is found using the Freed-Witten anoma…
The cancellation of U(1)-gauge and U(1)-gravitational anomalies in certain D=4 N=1 Type IIB orientifolds is analyzed in detail, from a string theory point of view. We verify the proposal that these anomalies are cancelled by a Green-Schwarz mechanism involving only twisted Ramond-Ramond fields. By factorizing one-loop partition functions, we also get the anomalous couplings of D-branes, O-planes and orbifold fixed-points to these twisted fields. Twisted sectors with fixed-planes participate to the inflow mechanism in a peculiar way.
Recently, Diaconescu, Moore and Witten provided a nontrivial link between K-theory and M-theory, by deriving the partition function of the Ramond-Ramond fields of Type IIA string theory from an E8 gauge theory in eleven dimensions. We give some relations between twisted K-theory and M-theory by adapting the method of Diaconescu-Moore-Witten and Moore-Saulina. In particular, we construct the twisted K-theory torus which defines the partition function, and also discuss the problem from the E8 loop group picture, in which the Dixmier-Douady class is the Neveu-Schwarz field. In the process of doin…
Using the equivalence between Scherk-Schwarz reductions and twisted tori compactifications, we discuss the effective theories obtained by this procedure from M-theory and N =4 type II orientifold constructions with Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond-Ramond form fluxes turned on. We derive the gauge algebras of the effective theories describing their general features, in particular the symplectic embedding in the duality symmetries of the theory. The generic gauge theory is non-abelian and its gauge group is given by the semidirect product of subgroups of SL(7) or SL(p-3) x SL(9-p) for p=3,...,9, with ge…
Quantum hamiltonian reduction of affine superalgebras is studied in the twisted case. The Ramond sector of "minimal" superconformal W-algebras is described in detail, the determinant formula is obtained. Extensive list of examples includes all the simple Lie superalgebras of rank up to 2. The paper generalizes the results of Kac and Wakimoto (math-ph/0304011) to the twisted case.
We find the orbifold analog of the topological relation recently found by Freed and Witten which restricts the allowed D-brane configurations of Type II vacua with a topologically non-trivial flat $B$-field. The result relies in Douglas proposal -- which we derive from worldsheet consistency conditions -- of embedding projective representations on open string Chan-Paton factors when considering orbifolds with discrete torsion. The orbifold action on open strings gives a natural definition of the algebraic K-theory group -- using twisted cross products -- responsible for measuring Ramond-Ramond…
We describe the effect of the marginal deformation of the $\cal N = (4, 4)$ superconformal $(T^4)^N /S_N$ orbifold theory on a doublet of R-neutral twisted Ramond fields, in the large-$N$ approximation. Our analysis of their dynamics explores the explicit analytic form of the genus-zero four-point function involving two R-neutral Ramond fields and two deformation operators. We compute this correlation function with two different approaches: the Lunin-Mathur path-integral technique and the stress-tensor method. From its short distance limits, we extract the OPE structure constants and the scali…
The paper is connected with searches for the Ramond-Ramond charge of D branes in the presence of B field. The consideration of B field inclusion is an important physical and mathematical unsolved problem, which is connected with K group calculations of twisted bundles. Considered two cases of vector bundles, Azumaya and Rosenberg algebras and analyzed their K group realization.
We derive the corrections to the conformal dimensions of twisted Ramond ground states in the deformed two-dimensional $\mathcal N = (4,4)$ superconformal $(\mathbb T^4)^N/S_N$ orbifold theory describing bound states of the D1-D5 brane system in type IIB superstring theory. Our result holds to second order in the deformation parameter, and at the large $N$ planar limit. The method of calculation involves the analytic evaluation of integrals of four-point functions of two R-charged twisted Ramond fields and two marginal deformation operators. We also calculate the deviation from zero, at first o…
In this paper we extend previous work on calculating massless boundary Ramond sector spectra of open strings to include cases with nonzero flat B fields. In such cases, D-branes are no longer well-modelled precisely by sheaves, but rather they are replaced by `twisted' sheaves, reflecting the fact that gauge transformations of the B field act as affine translations of the Chan-Paton factors. As in previous work, we find that the massless boundary Ramond sector states are counted by Ext groups -- this time, Ext groups of twisted sheaves. As before, the computation of BRST cohomology relies on p…
In the presence of background Neveu-Schwarz flux, the description of the Ramond-Ramond fields of type IIB string theory using twisted K-theory is not compatible with S-duality. We argue that other possible variants of twisted K-theory would still not resolve this issue. We propose instead a possible path to a solution using elliptic cohomology. We also discuss T-duality relation of this to a previous proposal for IIA theory, and higher-dimensional limits. In the process, we obtain some other results which may be interesting on their own. In particular, we prove a conjecture of Witten that the …
We obtain two boundary states corresponding to the two folds of a fractional-wrapped D$p$-brane, i.e. the twisted version under the orbifold $\mathbb{C}^{2}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ and the untwisted version. The brane has rotation and linear motion, in the presence of the following background fields: the Kalb-Ramond tensor, a $U(1)$ internal gauge potential and a tachyon field. The rotation and linear motion are inside the volume of the brane. The brane lives in the $d$-dimensional spacetime, with the orbifold-toroidal structure $T^n \times \mathbb{R}^{1, d-n-5} \times\mathbb{C}^{2}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ in…
In this work we study the dynamics of branes on group manifolds G deep in the stringy regime. After giving a brief overview of the various branes that can be constructed within the boundary conformal field theory approach, we analyze in detail the condensation processes that occur on stacks of such branes. At large volume our discussion is based on certain effective gauge theories on non-commutative `fuzzy' spaces. Using the `absorption of the boundary spin'-principle which was formulated by Affleck and Ludwig in their work on the Kondo model, we extrapolate the brane dynamics into the stringy…
We study examples of chiral four-dimensional IIB orientifolds with Scherk--Schwarz supersymmetry breaking, based on freely acting orbifolds. We construct a new Z3xZ3' model, containing only D9-branes, and rederive from a more geometric perspective the known Z6'xZ2' model, containing D9, D5 and \bar D 5 branes. The cancellation of anomalies in these models is then studied locally in the internal space. These are found to cancel through an interesting generalization of the Green--Schwarz mechanism involving twisted Ramond--Ramond axions and 4-forms. The effect of the latter amounts to local coun…
