Cohomotopy and flux quantization in M-theory

Abstract

Click on the DOI link to access this article at the publishers website (may not be free).We identify some of the k-invariants for the Postnikov tower of the stable and unstable 4-sphere. Assuming the stable Hypothesis H of Fiorenza-Sati-Schreiber, we use the resulting obstruction theory to prove that the Chern-Simons term in the effective action of M-theory is well defined. In particular, we do not assume the presence of an $E_8$-gauge field