Witten, Edward Global anomalies in string theory. (English) Zbl 0643.53071 Anomalies, geometry, topology, Symp. Chicago/Ill. 1985, 61-99 (1985). Summary: [For the entire collection see Zbl 0637.00005.] Various questions involving global anomalies in particle theory and string theory are addressed. It is shown that the question of whether a manifold is a spin manifold is equivalent to a question about global anomalies in the propagation of a point particle. In the superstring case, it is shown that the measure of the heterotic theory has no global anomalies on any Riemann surface. This generalizes known one loop results. Also, a topological condition is derived which restricts the possible choices of Wilson lines for grand unified symmetry breaking. It is argued that the long-term development of global anomalies in string theory will involve eventual study of global anomalies in the determinant of the Dirac-Ramond operator. Cited in 3 ReviewsCited in 26 Documents MSC: 53C80 Applications of global differential geometry to the sciences 57R99 Differential topology 81T60 Supersymmetric field theories in quantum mechanics Keywords:global anomalies; string theory; spin manifold; grand unified symmetry breaking; Dirac-Ramond operator Citations:Zbl 0637.00005 PDFBibTeX XML