String structures and canonical 3-forms

DOI10.2140/PJM.2011.249.447MaRDI QIDQ627407zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Corbett Redden

Publication date 1 March 2011

Published in Pacific Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0912.2086

zbMATH Keywords

spin structurepositive Ricci curvaturestring structurecohomology tmf (Topological Modular Forms)differential characters

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Connections (general theory) (53C05) Eta-invariants, Chern-Simons invariants (58J28) Hodge theory in global analysis (58A14) Specialized structures on manifolds (spin manifolds, framed manifolds, etc.) (57R15) Elliptic cohomology (55N34)

Abstract: Using basic homotopy constructions, we show that isomorphism classes of string structures on spin bundles are naturally given by certain degree 3 cohomology classes, which we call string classes, on the total space of the bundle. Using a Hodge isomorphism, we then show that the harmonic representative of a string class gives rise to a canonical 3-form on the base space, refining the associated differential character. We explicitly calculate this 3-form for homogeneous metrics on 3-spheres, and we discuss how the cohomology theory tmf could potentially encode obstructions to positive Ricci curvature metrics.

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Cited in

(24)

• \(\text{String}^c\) structures and modular invariants
• T-dual solutions of the Hull-Strominger system on non-Kähler threefolds
• The Fu-Yau equation in higher dimensions
• Orientation and string structures on loop space
• String structures associated to indefinite Lie groups
• Integrals detecting degree 3 string cobordism classes
• Massey products in differential cohomology via stacks
• Gauge theory for string algebroids
• Geometric and topological structures related to M-branes. II: Twisted string and string\(^{ c}\) structures
• Cheeger-Chern-Simons theory and differential string classes
• Variations of rational higher tangential structures
• Bigerbes
• New \(\mathbb{Z}_3\) strings
• Twisted differential string and fivebrane structures
• String structures and trivialisations of a Pfaffian line bundle
• Framed M-branes, corners, and topological invariants
• Secondary invariants for string bordism and topological modular forms
• Canonical metrics on holomorphic Courant algebroids
• The Heterotic-Ricci flow and its three-dimensional solitons
• \(TMF_0(3)\)-characteristic classes for string bundles
• String orientations of simplicial homology manifolds
• Holomorphic string algebroids
• String connections and Chern-Simons theory
• Topological actions via gauge variations of higher structures

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