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arXiv · 2605.25035

Flux Quantization of Type IIA in Unstable K-Theory

Pinak Banerjee·Hisham Sati·Urs Schreiber
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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.

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Pinak Banerjee, Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber. 2026-05-24. Flux Quantization of Type IIA in Unstable K-Theory. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25035

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