From the signature theorem to anomaly cancellation (Q2181174)

In the paper under review, the authors consider the Hirzebruch signature theorem as a special case of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. The family version of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem in the form of the Riemann-Roch-Grothendieck-Quillen (RRGQ) formula is then applied to the complexified signature operators varying along the universal family of elliptic curves. The RRGQ formula leds to determine a generalized cohomology class on the base of the elliptic fibration that is known in physics as (a measure of) the local and global anomaly. They cancel the local anomaly on a Jacobian elliptic surface by combining several anomalous operators, a construction that is based on the construction of the Poincaré line bundle over an elliptic surface.